Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15151/22]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his most recent meeting with his EU counterparts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14471/22]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the most recent meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15153/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 92, 100 and 120 together.

I participated on Monday, 21 March, in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council that took place in Brussels.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was the focus of our discussions. We considered in some detail the most recent developments on the ground and the effectiveness and impact of our response to date, as well as how we can continue to extend and adapt our actions.

There was widespread agreement that we need to maintain the strongest possible pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end. In that light, we adopted a number of crucial decisions to extend our political and practical support for Ukraine and for Ukrainians affected by this conflict.

We decided that we would advance with the adoption of a second package of military assistance for Ukraine. This will supplement the package of €500 million in military assistance that the EU has already provided under the European Peace Facility. Ireland’s share of €11million for that package will go towards non-lethal elements and we would expect to contribute a further €11 million in a similar manner to this next package.

The EU has already adopted the toughest and broadest sanctions measures ever seen, targeting key sectors of the Russian and Belarussian economies, as well as 685 individuals and 14 entities. There was broad agreement at FAC on the need to maintain economic and political pressure through the adoption of a further sanctions package in the short term. There are a range of views across EU Member States as to what this further package should focus on – Ireland would favour restrictions on energy imports from Russia to the EU, specifically of coal, gas and oil, but we recognise that many EU countries will need time to undertake energy transition measures to reduce their dependency on Russian oil and gas in particular. Another key priority for all Member States is the rapid and effective implementation of the substantial packages of sanctions already agreed. Ireland has asked the Commission to prepare a rapid impact assessment of the sanctions adopted so far, so that we have evidence of what measures are working most effectively and where we may need to plug gaps.

We also discussed and coordinated our actions to support those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova in particular have shown tremendous solidarity and generosity. I visited Warsaw last week and saw the Polish response first hand. The humanity and the effectiveness of this response is outstanding. It is clear that our response to the crisis will only be sustainable if we share the burden equitably. This was a point shared and understood by my colleagues. We agreed on the need to continue to strengthen our planning, coordination and burden-sharing structures.

The Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration joined the meeting to discuss how the EU can support his country in the midst of the current crisis. In addition to hosting considerable numbers of refugees, Moldova is facing particularly challenging security and political circumstances. The fragile situation in Moldova has been very much to the forefront of our national response and we have already committed to taking 500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova and have provided over €1 million in humanitarian aid directly to Moldova in the last three weeks. I informed the Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of our response to date, and undertook to continue to support them in the coming months. We agreed to hold a support conference in Berlin in early April to mobilise further concrete international support for Moldova, and to launch a Moldova Support Platform to prioritise and coordinate our support.

EU Defence and Foreign Ministers also met jointly to approve the final text of the Strategic Compass. This important strategy document will provide clear political direction for the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) for the decade ahead. The Strategic Compass is not a common European defence policy; rather, it enables the EU to better anticipate threats, respond to crises and deepen our cooperation with partners. It sets out series of concrete actions in areas such as crisis management, resilience. capability development and the EU’s partnerships with key international actors, including the United Nations.

The Strategic Compass text sets out the reality of the current European security environment in clear terms. The threats that face us have been made abundantly clear in recent weeks. Importantly, there is a strong focus on strengthening the EU’s ability to respond to new and emerging challenges, particularly cyber-attacks and hybrid threats. In addition, the Strategic Compass also provides for the creation of a new Rapid Deployment Capacity, which will allow the EU to deploy up to 5,000 troops to respond quickly and more effectively to crises overseas. Ireland has already been a consistent contributor to UN-authorised EU CSDP missions and operations. Currently, some 28 Defence Forces personnel are deployed to military CSDP missions in Mali, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Libya, with 19 civilian experts also deployed to eight CSDP missions.

Ministers at FAC also had the opportunity to assess the EU’s policy and response to events in Mali and Ethiopia. We considered and agreed how to tailor the EU’s strategic engagement in the Sahel and how to best adapt our assistance, to ensure that we continue to deliver much needed humanitarian assistance and security for the population of Mali, while maintaining a focus on urging the transitional authorities to return to constitutional order.

It is important that the conflict in Ukraine does not cause us to lose focus on other situations of conflict and this was emphasised in our discussions of the situation in Ethiopia. Despite some positive political developments there, we are still not seeing enough progress on the ground, especially in terms of the pressing issue of humanitarian access. This is particularly concerning in light of the expected consequences of the grain shortage we expect the war in Ukraine to bring later in this year.

In advance of the Council meeting, we also held a discussion with the North Macedonian Foreign Minister. This focused on regional issues in the Western Balkans, the regional effects of the war in Ukraine, and North Macedonia’s own EU accession process, of which we remain strongly supportive.