Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together.

I travelled to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I participated in an informal EU Summit on the evening of 16 May, and the EU-western Balkans Summit on 17 May.

The informal summit on 16 May was chaired by President Donald Tusk, as part of the series of discussions on the future of Europe under his "Leaders' Agenda". The focus this time was on innovation and the digital economy. We had an exchange of views on future EU actions to promote investment in artificial intelligence and breakthrough innovation.

We also discussed transatlantic relations and developments regarding Iran and the Middle East. On transatlantic relations, there was strong support for insisting on a permanent exemption from US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

There was a readiness to engage in subsequent talks with the United States on improving reciprocal market access, liberalisation of government procurement and reform of the WTO should an exemption be secured. Subsequent events have taken a different direction, which is a matter of serious concern.

On Iran, we agreed that we should continue to support the nuclear deal, so long as Iran continues to comply with its own commitments under it. On the Middle East, we called for an investigation into the shootings in Gaza last month, and stressed the need to reduce tensions in the region.

The EU western Balkans summit on 17 May was attended by EU leaders and the leaders of the six regional partners, namely, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. This was the first such summit in 15 years and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Bulgarian Presidency on having convened and successfully chaired it. We used the summit to reaffirm the European perspective of the western Balkans and their pathway to EU membership, and agreed a set of actions for enhanced co-operation with the region, including in areas such as transport and energy infrastructure, digital connectivity and co-operation on security, migration and wider geopolitical developments.

I had a meeting at the summit with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, and our respective teams. Our discussions focused mainly on Brexit, including progress on the backstop in the context of the withdrawal agreement, as well as developments regarding Northern Ireland. I will report in more detail on this meeting in my response to the next group of questions.

I did not have a scheduled bilateral meeting with Chancellor Merkel, although I did, of course, engage with her informally over the course of the summit, as I did with my other EU counterparts.

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