Ireland now has the opportunity to be more proactive in this area. We should attempt to customise the security policy of the Union rather than having to react to certain policies we see as threatening neutrality. Now is the time for Ireland to become much more assertive, to abandon traditional reservations and to demand policies that simultaneously meet our needs and the needs of the European security environment, bearing in mind our neutrality. Other neutrals have done this. The Finns have had considerable success in developing the EU's policy towards Russia. Ireland can enjoy the same level of success.