Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions in the House this afternoon. I will focus my remarks on economic issues, specifically the 2024 European semester, the Euro summit and the capital markets union. I will also speak about the enlargement process and progress in Ukraine, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, migration and the deteriorating situation in Belarus.

As part of the 2024 European semester cycle of economic policy co-ordination, the European Council will endorse the priorities of the annual sustainable growth survey as presented by the Commission last November and will invite member states to reflect them in the forthcoming national plans. The four priorities under the European semester remain: promoting environmental sustainability; productivity; fairness; and macroeconomic stability with a view to fostering competitive sustainability. The European Council also will endorse the draft Council recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area as approved by finance ministers on 16 January. This covers prudent fiscal policies; sustaining high levels of public investment; wage developments and active labour market policies; access to finance through deeper and stronger capital markets; and preserving macro-financial stability.

As part of the semester process, by the end of April each year Ireland is required to submit to the European Commission a national reform programme alongside the stability programme update. It outlines macroeconomic employment and social challenges facing Ireland and the Government's responses; in particular policies to boost jobs and growth along with how we are addressing the country-specific recommendations which we have received in the semester process. A distinctive feature of this year's process is that the revision of the EU's economic governance framework is currently being finalised and will conclude shortly. Following the provisional political agreement reached last month by the Council and Parliament, the proposed new framework will impact upon the European semester process and the requirement for national reform programme from 2025 onwards, though the details and implications of this are not yet fully finalised.

Leaders will also meet in Euro summit format. They will be joined by the Eurogroup president, Paschal Donohoe, and European Central Bank President, Christine Lagarde. The Euro summit will discuss the economic situation and progress to further capital markets union including last week's Eurogroup statement on the future of the capital markets union.

I welcome the ambition of the Eurogroup statement on common priorities for making swift progress deepening Europe's capital markets while creating attractive investment opportunities for both individual and institutional investors. In a fast-changing global economy we need to ensure that businesses in Ireland and across the EU, particularly SMEs, have different ways of accessing the financing they need to grow and to scale up across European and global markets. It is a crucial component of a wider competitiveness agenda that Ireland continues to advocate strongly for, including in looking ahead to the new strategic agenda to be adopted by the European Council ahead of the next institutional cycle.

Ireland welcomed the decision of the European Council in December to open a session of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova with negotiating frameworks to be adopted once certain key requirements are met, and to grant candidate status to Georgia on the basis that nine further steps are taken. Leaders are expected to call for further work in this regard at the European Council. As the Commission has prepared a draft negotiating framework for Ukraine and Moldova, we would like to see swift adoption of the negotiating frameworks.

In December there will also be a clear signal from the European Council that the EU will open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved. The European Commission prepared a report on progress in Bosnia Herzegovina and leaders are expected to consider the recommendations therein. We strongly support Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU perspective, but we will need to see the evidence of progress on the required reforms outlined by the Commission. Our position on the opening of the accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina will be informed by the Commission's additional reporting. The Government's recent decision to open new resident embassies in Moldova, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is evidence of our commitment to EU enlargement and our desire to support candidate countries as they prepare themselves for membership of our Union. We want to see further positive outcomes to maintain the current momentum and to continue incentivising reforms. It is important that candidate countries seize this opportunity by making rapid and meaningful progress on accession reforms.

Leaders will also return to the issue of migration at the March European Council and will review the state of play since their last discussion in December. Over the past four years, significant progress has been made in the area of migration and asylum. Sustainable reforms were put in place following the political agreement on the pact on migration and asylum, which is a significant step forward towards a permanent solution to the challenges posed by irregular and forced migration. The pact will introduce a common set of rules and policies in the areas of migration, asylum, integration and border management, which will ensure harmonisation of rules across the EU and provide a robust legislative framework to improve the functioning of the asylum system. It represents an important balance between effective asylum and return processes and safeguards for those seeking protection who are most vulnerable. When it comes into force, this agreement will allow for unprecedented reforms and a more effective, coherent fair system to manage migration across the European Union. In the coming weeks the Government will also decide if Ireland will opt in to participate in the pact.

Since the fraudulent presidential elections of August 2020, the situation in Belarus has continued to deteriorate. Belarusian society faces systematic repression aimed at silencing all independent voices. Close to 1,500 political prisoners are incarcerated in appalling conditions. Ireland has consistently called for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners. Repression, human rights violations and restrictions on political participation and across independent media in Belarus reached unprecedented levels in the build-up to the parliamentary and local elections on 25 February. Conditions for free and fair elections were not met and new parliamentary local officials risk a lack of democratic legitimacy. Leaders are expected to express concern for the deteriorating human rights situation and call for the release of all political prisoners.

I again thank Members for their active participation in this debate.

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