Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach indicated in his commentary, there was a multifaceted agenda before the European Council on 21 and 22 October, including the ongoing and worrying issue of Covid across Europe, digital transformation, energy prices, migration and external relations. In the five minutes allotted to me, I have very limited time to address these extensive issues, so I will only deal with a couple of them.

The issue of energy prices is the most urgent to be dealt with right now because hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland are despairingly facing a cold winter unless we do something about it. I thought there would be a conclusion from this particular meeting but the conclusions of the Council state the Council invited the Commission to study the functioning of energy markets to see if further regulatory reform is required. Clearly, that will not bring any instant relief to millions of European Union citizens in real trouble this winter in terms of heating their homes and being unable to pay fuel bills. The Council did mandate energy ministers to convene an extraordinary meeting to follow up on the Council conclusions, and those ministers agreed that short-term measures have to be taken as a matter of urgency to shield vulnerable customers from enormous price hikes. The Commission has issued a clear policy framework that allows member states to take action, including temporary tax breaks.

The surge in energy costs is an unexpected boon to the coffers of government. It is an unexpected windfall. The State charges 13.5% VAT on top of the bloated price of energy. In fact, not only does it charge 13.5% on gas and electricity, it also charges 13.5% on the carbon tax and the PSO levy. The levy that is designed to support alternative energies is also taxed and the money is being put into the Exchequer from that. The Commission has pointed out that, on average, taxes and levies on electricity and gas retail prices in the European Union account for 41% of household electricity prices and 32% of household gas prices. The EU energy taxation directive and the VAT directive give flexibility to member states to exempt or apply a reduced rate of VAT on electricity, natural gas, coal and solid fuel used in households. The Government must act to ensure all households can address the unexpected and extraordinary surge in the cost of fuel this winter. I hope the Taoiseach will have something positive to say about that.

In the minute and a half I have left, I wish to deal with the issue of Poland and the rule of law. The Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has asserted that the Polish Constitution supersedes EU law, even where it is clear the matters in question are an EU competence in accordance with the EU treaties. This is a fundamental test for Europe. If the European legal framework is undermined and compromised, then there is no EU. The debate at the Council on this matter was described as taking place in "a serene atmosphere", whatever that means. It is noteworthy the Polish Prime Minister met with Marine Le Pen, one of Europe's loudest eurosceptics. In my view, the Polish Government is perfectly entitled to reject the fundamental rights and structures of the European Union and campaign to leave the EU if that is its choice, but it cannot be allowed to dismantle those rights and structures from the inside. It is simply not an issue that can be allowed to drift.

As the Taoiseach stated, it was probably the final Council meeting with Angela Merkel, who has been a giant figure on the European landscape. I wish her well, but I look forward to Olaf Scholz replacing her and having a different perspective on European matters into the future. I join the Taoiseach in wishing Stefan Löfven, my Swedish Labour colleague who is a good friend of Ireland, as the Taoiseach stated, well in whatever lies ahead for him.

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