Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Mitchell, MEP, and echo all that has been said in lauding and complimenting him on his outstanding contribution not only to national affairs but also to European affairs. I wish him well in the future.

Inevitably, given that Mr. Mitchell has covered such a wide variety of subjects, there will be some overlap in the questions. None the less, I am concerned by some elements of the Lisbon treaty that relate to the power of national parliaments. Ireland is a former member of the Western European Union, which has now been superseded by a new committee in Europe. However, even though the Warsaw declaration in March of this year signed off on the decision that where there was a bicameral parliamentary system, there would be representatives from both Houses, unfortunately, the situation is that the three representatives from Ireland are all chairs of committees, are all members of the Government and are all TDs. In my opinion, this flies in the face of the attempts that have been made to have a more inclusive participatory democracy vis-à-vis Europe. I am curious to establish whether Mr. Mitchell is disappointed that, in some elements, the Lisbon treaty, which clearly stated there would be more openness, transparency and democratic accountability among the Commission, the Parliament and national parliaments, has failed. It has failed in the context of this House, which should be used more effectively to scrutinise European legislation.

My final question is on a point on which I am curious to know Mr. Mitchell's opinion. Is he concerned about the continuing stability of the German-French alliance, particularly in light of the election of President Hollande? Moreover, while Chancellor Merkel is personally very popular in Germany - as the Acting Chairman will know, given that we discovered this on the recent visit of the agriculture committee - her party, the CDU, and its coalition partners, the liberals, could possibly lose the election. What implications does Mr. Mitchell believe this will have for the wider European area?