Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The European Council will take stock of preparations for the November Asia-Europe summit, the Eastern Partnership summit, the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow and the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15. The European Council will discuss preparations for the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEM, on 25 and 26 November. This biannual summit will bring together leaders from the 51 ASEM partner countries along with the institutional leaders from the EU and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, under the theme of strengthening multilateralism for shared growth. This year's event is under the chairmanship of Cambodia. Due to Covid-19, the summit will be held in a virtual format. It will mark the 25th anniversary of ASEM. There are two planned outcome documents for the summit, including a chair's statement on the theme of multilateralism and the Phnom Penh statement on post-Covid socioeconomic recovery, a matter of shared interest to European and Asian leaders alike. The Taoiseach will represent Ireland at the summit.

The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009 as a framework for co-operation between the EU and six partner countries, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Belarus. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine's relations with the EU are based on respective association agreements and the countries aspire to eventual EU membership. The EU's relationship with Azerbaijan and Armenia is based on partnership agreements. The Lukashenko regime in Belarus suspended its involvement in the Eastern Partnership in June following our sanctions. The sixth Eastern Partnership summit will be held at head of state or government level on 15 December 2021, preceded by a ministerial summit in Brussels on 15 November. On 2 July 2021, the European Commission published a joint staff working document setting out a new framework for the Eastern Partnership, focusing on the themes of reform, recovery and resilience. This will be accompanied by a €17 billion investment plan to deliver on objectives. The Commission hopes that the new framework will be endorsed at the December summit.

Ireland has three priorities relating to the Eastern Partnership. We believe in greater economic links and macrofinancial assistance but only to the extent that partner countries make domestic improvements in the areas of gender equality, good governance, human rights, the rule of law and democracy. Second, on a related matter, Ireland believes that the Eastern Partnership as a framework must be more values-driven. Third, we support the principles of inclusivity and differentiation within the partnership, tailoring the partnership to the different needs and aspirations of each individual partner.

The COP26 is due to take place in Glasgow from 31 October until 12 November. COP26 is the five-year COP after the Paris Agreement. Parties are expected to submit updated and more ambitious nationally determined contributions which articulate the parties' climate policies. This exercise, which was established by the UN parties, is on track to reach the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to below 2°C and to drive it towards 1.5°C. The EU has submitted a nationally determined contribution, NDC, on behalf of member states outlining at least a 55% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and the achievement of net-zero emissions by 2050. Ireland is an active member of the EU delegation to COP26, participating in EU expert groups, including financing, adaptation, science and agriculture, and finalising the Paris rulebook which will govern the implementation of the Paris Agreement. In line with the EU's position, Ireland will continue to reiterate its strong support for the Paris Agreement as the foremost multilateral mechanism to drive global climate action.

A key issue ahead of COP26, which will influence the outcome of the COP, is climate finance. The financial commitments made by developed countries party to COP15 in 2009 and COP21 in 2015 have not yet been met. There is increasing pressure on donor countries, including EU member states, to signal further actions to meet their climate finance commitments, with a particular focus on financing adaptation to climate change. Ireland has a long track record of providing for balanced shared climate finance for adaptation and grant-based finance for least developed countries and small island developing states.

The first part of the 15th meeting of the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15, took place from 11 to 15 October. The second part will reconvene with in-person meetings in Kunming, China, from 25 April to 8 May next year. Ireland was represented at the high-level segment from 12 to 13 October by the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan. Reversing the trend of biodiversity loss is a major challenge for the coming decade and should be one of our top priorities. It is in this context that discussions have taken place on the development of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, to be agreed in Kunming in 2022. Ireland is working with EU partners to present a strong, coherent voice for a global biodiversity framework that provides for the transformative change that the biodiversity crisis demands.

In 2020, the EU published a strategy for biodiversity to 2030. The headline goal of the strategy is to transform at least 30% of Europe's lands and seas into effectively managed, protected areas and to bring back at least 10% of agricultural area under high diversity landscape features. This strategy was endorsed by the European Council in October 2020. The strategy forms the basis of the negotiation position for the EU and member states at COP15.

I thank members for their active participation in the debate. This particular format does not allow me to answer questions but I will do so next week. I thank all Members of the House, both Government and Opposition, for our unified approach to the issue of Brexit. That gives the country incredible strength when dealing with our European partners, which also show the same unity. We are grateful for the unity here and within the European Union.

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