Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the strategic compass proposal brought forward by the European Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3709/22]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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The European Commission has brought forward proposals for the so-called strategic compass for security and co-operation in Europe. The decisions in this regard are due to be taken at the March European Council meeting. What is the Irish approach to the strategic compass as negotiations on it continue?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The strategic compass is an exercise intended to provide enhanced political and strategic direction for the European Union’s security and defence policy for the next five to ten years. Once agreed by member states, this policy document will serve not only to outline the EU’s approach to the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, but also to reflect the increasingly complex security landscape faced by the EU, and believe me, it is complex. Ireland has always engaged constructively in the development of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, guided by our traditional policy of military neutrality and our contribution to crisis management and peacekeeping. For this reason, we are playing an active role in work to develop the strategic compass.

I have had the opportunity to discuss the strategic compass with EU foreign and defence ministers on a number of occasions, most recently at our informal meeting in Brest on 13 January. Following further engagement between all 27 member states over the coming months, it is expected the final document will be endorsed at the European Council in March. As it currently stands, the draft document as presented to member states by High Representative Borrell opens with an analysis of the strategic environment and the challenges facing the EU, before outlining proposals in the areas of crisis management, resilience, capability development and the EU's work with key partners.

Ireland welcomes the strategic compass as a means of setting out our shared strategic vision for CSDP and of enhancing the EU's role as a security provider and in contributing to international peace and security. In our view, the strategic compass also offers an important opportunity for the EU to project the core values that underpin our approach to CSDP, including our commitment to effective multilateralism and the rules-based international order. In this regard, the exercise offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen the EU's co-operation with the United Nations, including in the areas of peacekeeping and crisis management.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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The strategic compass has been described as a pathway for European security and defence capabilities with the aim of developing a sovereign European strategy, resulting in smarter co-operation. It has the strong backing of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who stated, when France assumed the Presidency of the European Union, "we must move from a Europe of cooperation within our borders to a Europe that is powerful in the world, fully sovereign, free in its choices and master of its destiny". We know security and defence no longer just involve military conflict and that hybrid warfare is now a real issue. The cyberattack on the HSE brought this matter clearly home to us in Ireland. What is the Minister's understanding of the strategic compass? What role will Ireland play in it, given our tradition of peacekeeping around the world? Will we bring our unique traditions to those negotiations?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Yes. With the strategic compass, member states are working to build a common assessment of the threats and challenges posed to the European Union. In addition, the compass will help the EU to become a stronger security provider at a global level as well as a more responsible and reliable partner that can respond to external crises, work closely with the United Nations and other partners, and protect the Union and its citizens. The challenge is to try to bring everybody's concerns and ambitions together in one document that all 27 countries of the European Union can support. They bring different perspectives to this discussion. We bring the perspective of a country that is militarily neutral and wants to focus on peacekeeping and peace support and on co-operation and partnership with the United Nations. There are other neutral countries in the European Union that are not members of NATO which also bring perspectives, such as Austria, Malta, Finland and Sweden. We have been very much active in this discussion and debate. I hope that, by the end of March, we will be able to settle on a strategic compass that makes sense for all countries.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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One aim of the strategic compass is to be able to act decisively when the need arises. The evacuation from Kabul Airport last year highlighted the need for this in a real way. We know there are proposals for a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force, greater investment in defence, and that Ireland has concerns about so-called Article 44 issues. Will the Minister give an assurance that Ireland's approach to the strategic compass will be based on the need to contribute to international peace and security and stress again the importance of EU and United Nations co-operation and multilateralism generally? In addition, does he agree the strategic compass should ensure the EU is able to deal with new types of threats, including cyberattacks and hybrid threats?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm all of those things. We have brought to this debate a desire to see collective co-ordination across the European Union to ensure the EU can intervene in crisis situations in a way that is seamless and interoperable and that countries are not pulled into conflicts in a way they are not comfortable with. This is about trying to improve the EU's collective capacity to be able to respond to threats to the EU, but also to be able to make strategic interventions at appropriate and correct times to promote and support peacekeeping and stability, often in post-conflict situations, both in our neighbourhood and other parts of the world. It is also about building our capacity to be able to respond to new threats, such as the cyber threat, which the Deputy raised and will feature strongly in the Commission on the Defence Forces report, which we will see in the next few weeks. We are in a good space.