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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 13, inclusive, together.

I attended a European Political Community, EPC, summit in Granada, Spain, on 5 October. It was hosted by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. The EPC is an informal forum which brings together leaders of around 50 countries from across the Continent of Europe to discuss issues of shared concern. This was the third meeting of the European Political Community. It first met in Prague in October 2022 and then in Chișinău in June 2023. It will meet again in the first half of next year in the UK.

During the summit, I participated in a round table on multilateralism, including security and geostrategic issues, co-chaired by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, and the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Other parallel round tables focused on digital transition and artificial intelligence, and on energy, the environment, and climate change. I held bilateral meetings with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as the Prime Ministers of North Macedonia, Latvia, Armenia, and the President of the Swiss Confederation.

The focus of the meeting with Prime Minister Sunak was Northern Ireland, including the UK Legacy Act, the restoration of the institutions in Northern Ireland, and the implementation of the Windsor Framework.

In my meeting with North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski, we discussed EU enlargement, including North Macedonia’s accession aspirations, as well as bilateral relations and North Macedonia’s chairing of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE.

I had an introductory meeting with the newly-elected Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Siliņa, during which I congratulated her on her election, welcomed her to the European Council and discussed issues of mutual interest and bilateral contacts between Ireland and Latvia.

During my meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, I reiterated Ireland’s serious concerns about developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, offering Ireland’s assistance in responding to the resulting and evolving humanitarian situation.

My meeting with the President of Switzerland focused on bilateral relations. We also discussed our countries’ experiences of neutrality and the reflective processes under way in both countries on our respective security and defence policies.

The summit concluded with a dinner at La Alhambra, hosted by the Spanish Prime Minister and attended by the King and Queen of Spain.

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