Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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68. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will outline his Minister of State’s recent engagements at the June Plenary session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28926/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Minister of State for European Affairs attended the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg on 11-12 June 2013. The Minister represented the Council in the key plenary debate on preparations for the European Council meeting of 27-28 June, which focused in particular on the European Semester, European Monetary Union, Banking Union, improving access to finance for small and medium enterprises and the fight against youth unemployment. On behalf of the Council, the Minister also participated in plenary debates on the Common European Asylum System, the Schengen Evaluation Mechanism, a temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders and the progress of certain Financial Services proposals. I was in Strasbourg on 11 June for a political trilogue with the European Parliament and the Commission on the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), in which the Minister of State also participated.

While in Strasbourg, the Minister of State also met with Commission Vice-President Šefčovič and the European Parliament’s negotiating team on the Commission proposal on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations. The Minister also met bilaterally with a number of MEPs and had a bilateral meeting with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates.