Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has welcomed the agreement reached on the rule of law conditionality mechanism, which has been an important issue for Ireland and for the wider MFF negotiations. We support the current text as the best possible compromise available. The agreement has a broader scope than the Presidency proposal and we have welcomed it as an improvement on the original text from 2018. Ireland has consistently supported the position of like-minded member states on the importance of introducing strong and effective rule of law conditionality through this type of mechanism. The agreement means there will be consequences for member states for breaches of the rule of law. It signals that rule of law issues are important for the EU.

That said, as I indicated at the outset, we must find a way forward on this. There are a number of issues that risk significant divisions within the European Union and this is one of them. Migration and migration law is another. One of the challenges for the European Union is to find a way of ensuring that we take seriously the values of the Union, which hold us together, and that there are consequences for countries that move away from that value system, at the same time as finding a way of moving the budget process forward because many countries, including Ireland, rely on the budget mechanism to function. I hope the German Presidency will be able to find a way forward that is acceptable to everybody.

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