I welcome this opportunity to consider the situation of the Community at the present time and to review the direction the Community is taking and the implications for Ireland of these developments.
Much has happened in the last few years to bring a fresh impetus to the process of European integration. Profound changes in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Communist régimes in these countries, have brought a new urgency to the Community's role. It has become a focus of political stability and locomotive of economic and social renewal, both for the Community itself and, now, for our neighbours to the East. The Treaty on European Union, signed at Maastricht on 7 February 1992, brings the process of political union and economic and monetary union a significant step forward. It constitutes the Community's working agenda for much of the rest of this decade. The process of enlargement has begun and those countries with whom negotiations have already opened, or are about to open — namely Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway — will, hopefully, accede to membership in 1995.
In the field of political co-operation the Community and its member states have co-ordinated positions on a wide range of international issues and thereby strengthened the European identity in international affairs.
The Community has helped to bring about a Europe based on shared principles and values, contributed to the end of apartheid, promoted human rights in Central America, supported the Middle East peace process, and in the field of arms control and non-proliferation, aquired a stronger international profile in keeping with Irish priorities. There is time to touch on some of the main developments.
The newly independent states of the former Soviet Union have embarked upon the long and difficult process of political and economic reform. Developments in Russia in recent days underline the difficult nature of the transition to democratic institutions and market economies. The European Community and its member states fully support this reform process. It is vital that it should continue in a way that will ensure peace and stability not only in Russia but in Europe generally.
A number of initiatives have been taken by the EC in the humanitarian and economic assistance areas to assist the reform process. Of special importance is the development of a sound contractual framework for the evolution of relations between the EC and Russia. A number of rounds of negotiation on a partnership and co-operation agreement have recently taken place and I hope on Monday next the Council of Ministers will give further impetus to the early conclusion of the agreement.
In recent years, the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) has begun to augment its traditional role of setting standards in various fields such as human rights and security relations between states by taking on a more active role in crisis management and conflict prevention. The Paris CSCE Summit in 1990 and the Helsinki Summit in 1992 have given the CSCE new structures and institutions which are designed to enable the CSCE to respond more positively and more effectively to conflicts in Europe.
The timeliness of this development is evident. Conflict continues in Tadjikistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and other parts of the former Soviet Union. The tragic consequences of events in former Yugoslavia are well known.
The Programme for a Partnership Government 1993-1997 states that the Government will work to develop the CSCE as a pan-European forum.
The European Community and its member states have played, from the beginning, a leading role in the search for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the Yugoslav conflict, most notably through promoting mediation efforts first of Lord Carrington and now of Lord Owen and Cyrus Vance.
The EC Monitor Mission, in which Ireland is an active participant, is operating in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and in the states bordering the former Yugoslavia. Ireland and other EC member states are providing military personnel to the United Nations Protection Force, UNPROFOR, in both Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia. I pay tribute to the Irish personnel who have served in former Yugoslavia.
The Community and its member states are also playing a leading role in providing humanitarian assistance to the victims of the Yugoslav conflict. I might mention in this regard the prominent role played by Ireland in exposing the abuse of women in Bosnia and in international efforts to assist these most innocent of victims of the Yugoslav conflict.
We have all been appalled by the terrible scenes of suffering which we have witnessed in Bosnia, especially in Srebrenica. The indiscriminate shelling and the starving of innocent civilians in order to bring about territorial gains cannot be allowed to continue.
The Owen-Vance plan for Bosnia has now been accepted by the Bosnian Muslims and Croats, and some parts of it have been accepted by the Bosnian Serbs. Efforts are currently under way to persuade the Bosnian Serbs to accept the remaining points. This will open the way for a Security Council resolution which will enable implementation of the Owen-Vance plan to proceed. Ireland, together with its EC partners is strongly supporting these efforts.
News of the resignation of Cyrus Vance as joint negotiator with Lord Owen prompts me to take this opportunity to pay tribute to his persistent and untiring efforts in the search for a settlement plan for this strife-torn region. I am sure we will all wish him well in his plans for the future.
In recent years we have witnessed major events in the Middle East. The Iran-Iraq War came to an end in 1988 after eight years of fighting. In 1990 Iraq overran and sought to annex Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War which forced Iraq to withdraw. In the autumn of 1991 there was the historic launch of peace talks between the Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians and Lebanese. Ireland and our partners in the European Community are contributing to those talks and will do whatever we can to help them succeed.
In South Africa, the EC has consistently supported the endeavours of South Africans who have sought to bring about a democratic, non-racial and united South Africa. The Community's actions have included both sanctions and the lesser-known, but very important, positive measures programme in support of democracy and development. This programme recognised, that, although the statutory elements of apartheid have been removed, its legacy remains. A democratic and prosperous South Africa will greatly contribute to the general welfare of the southern African region.
As Deputies will be aware, in the latter part of last month, in my capacity as Minister of State with special responsibility for development co-operation, I visited Somalia, Zambia and Tanzania. These visits once again brought home to me how closely interconnected are my ministerial responsibilities for development co-operation and for European affairs.
During the second half of 1992, the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy David Andrews, and An tUach-tarán, President Robinson, played a major world role in focusing international attention on the plight of the Somali people as a result of famine, war, and the indifference of their leaders to their plight.
It was therefore heartening to see, half a year later, what the effect has been of intervention by the the UN and by UNITAF forces. Deputies will be happy to be informed that the nutritional status of the people of Somalia, in particular of the children and women, has improved immeasurably in comparison with the situation some months ago. What has been achieved is due largely to the remarkable work of NGOs, particularly Irish NGOs, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, of the forces gathered under US leadership in UNITAF, and of the UN. Irish volunteers and Irish relief workers played a major part in the progress which has been achieved, and Ireland has every reason to be proud of their work, which enjoys international recognition. I salute their efforts.
There remain many problems. The NGO operatives continue to work in difficult and dangerous circumstances. When I was in Mogadishu, I attended a memorial Mass one month after the killing of Valerie Place. Seán Devereux and other relief workers, and a number of soldiers and civilian workers with UNITAF, have also been killed.
I had intensive meetings with representatives of Irish and other international NGOs, with UN agencies, and in particular with Admiral Howe, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, and with General Johnston, officer commanding UNITAF. I believe that in these discussions, I was able to improve communications between the UN and the military, on the one hand, and the NGOs, the Red Cross and other relief workers, on the other. Ireland will continue to support the work of humanitarian relief and rehabilitation in Somalia, principally through the Irish NGOs.
Although the situation in Somalia is now much better, during my stay in the region of the Horn of Africa, I became increasingly aware of the deterioration of the situation in southern Sudan. I have this week allocated £500,000 to Irish and UN agencies working in southern Sudan to support their relief efforts. The Tánaiste has caused the issue of southern Sudan to be raised within EC Political Co-operation and the concerns of the EC member states have been conveyed to the Khartoum authorities and to the leaders of SPLA factions. This is an area which we will have to continue to keep under careful review. Another Somalia must be avoided.
On a more positive note, I also had the opportunity to visit Zambia and Tanzania, in order to visit bilateral aid programme projects in the two countries. I had most interesting discussions with President Frederick Chiluba in Zambia and with Prime Minister John Malacela in Tanzania, as well as with other leaders in both countries. Both President Chiluba and Prime Minister Malacela emphasised to me in extremely warm terms their regard for the activities financed under Ireland's official aid programme, in particular because of our practice of targeting the poorest of the poor, and because of the close co-operation between our projects and the communities and administrations they are meant to support. President Chiluba and his colleagues made the point that the Irish programme was playing a vital role in helping Zambia meet its obligations under the World Bank-inspired structural adjustment programme.
Deputies will be aware that President Chiluba reintroduced a state of emergency in Zambia some weeks ago. He, as well as the other Zambian leaders I met, emphasised to me the extreme reluctance with which this decision had been taken and their firm intention to restore the rule of law as quickly as possible. For my part, I insisted that Zambia's friends would follow progress very closely and would be seriously troubled if there were any foot-dragging on the return to constitutional normality.
I attended the annual meeting of the San Jose process between EC and Central American countries held this year in El Salvador. The conclusion of the peace accords in relation to El Salvador in January 1992 opened the way to a new stage of national reconciliation and reconstruction for that country. It also marked a significant step towards the consolidation of peace in the Central American region as a whole.
Ireland, together with its partners in the Community, is thus concerned to see the full implementation of all elements of the accords at the earliest possible date. This, of course, applies equally to the Truth Commission whose report has recently been published. Ireland believes that its recommendations should be fully implemented.
In my address to the conference in San Salvador, I recalled the resolution on human rights, democracy and development which we adopted in the European Community in 1991. I stressed the importance which we in the Community attach to the notion that human rights have a universal nature and it is the duty of all states to promote them. At the same time human rights and democracy form part of a larger set of requirements designed to achieve balanced and sustainable development. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms to enable popular participation in development has become one of the core elements underlying the co-operation policies of the Community.
In San Salvador, I also met members of the FMLN who are now recognised as a political party, and I asked them whether there were any ways in which Ireland could make a contribution to the peace process. They asked me to consider the possibility of Ireland participating in the monitoring and observation of the elections next year. I agreed to consider carefully this request.
Nuclear disarmament continues to be one of the highest priorities of the Twelve in the field of arms control and disarmament. Nuclear proliferation is a major threat to global security and stability. The Twelve have called on Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to abide by the commitments they made to adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT, as non-nuclear weapon states. In recent weeks, the Twelve have expressed grave concern at the announcement by North Korea of its intention to withdraw from the NPT and have urged that country to reconsider its decision.
The Twelve have also welcomed the conclusion of the Chemical Weapons Convention which was opened for signature in Paris last January.
A common approach by the Twelve to world affairs makes sense for the member states of the Community, enabling us to be more effective than we could hope to be acting alone. The European role is also welcomed by other countries, whether as a source of stability here in Europe or as a contribution to the solution of other international problems.
This is the background to the Maastricht negotiations, which have already been discussed in detail in this House. I believe Deputies will agree that the Treaty strikes the right balance. It points to a coherent European Community role in world affairs, while at the same time maintaining safeguards in such areas as the procedures for decision-making and the competence of the Union in the security field.
Since the end of the Cold War, we have seen the beginning of a new global agenda — an agenda for peace and security, for strengthening the United Nations, for non-proliferation, for protecting the environment and, not least, for economic development of a kind which will ensure that the needs of all men and women, in whatever region of the world they live, are provided for.
Through the European Community, Ireland has a tremendous opportunity to contribute to these international debates of the nineties on the basis of values which we have always stood for in international affairs.
Ten members have ratified and approved the Maastricht Treaty. As the House knows, the British Parliament and the Danish people have to decide on their countries' ratification, and that is a matter which we will leave to them. Ratification is in Ireland's interests, it is in the Community's interests, it is in the interest of the wider European family, not least the nations of central and eastern Europe. The Irish people, in the referendum last June, demonstrated their commitment to Europe and subsequent events have served to demonstrate that the need for greater integration along the lines set out in the Treaty is as great as ever. This is especially so in the context of helping the nations of central and eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union, to overcome the enormous difficulties they face in establishing market economies and consolidation of their new democracies.
A major objective of the Maastricht Treaty is the achievement of Economic and Monetary Union. The final stage of Monetary Union is to be achieved in 1997, or at the latest in 1999. The turbulence in the last six months in the exchange rate Mechanism, ERM, which we joined on its inception in 1979, does not weaken the arguments in favour of European Monetary Union. On the contrary, these events have strengthened those arguments and our resolve to achieve European Monetary Union. We have seen again recently the problems that arise from uncertainty in the currency markets.
Of course, we were disappointed recently when we were forced to devalue the punt at the end of January. This took place despite the fact that the basics of our economy were sound. We felt that more could have been done to show the determination of the members of the ERM to resist speculative pressures. However, our job now is to make the best of our new situation.
Interest rates have begun to come down, aided by the 1993 budget's firm adherence to fiscal discipline. German rates, which are a key factor in Europe, have also come down significantly. The balance of advantage remains with the achievement of the Economic and Monetary Union and its implementation in line with the Maastricht timetable.
Today is European Day of Action on Employment, organised by the European Trade Union Confederation, rightly to underline the fact that the problem of unemployment remains our greatest challenge. It must be tackled vigorously by the Community on the basis of sound economic policies.
The Maastricht Treaty revises Article 2 of the existing Treaty, to make it clear that the Community must have among its main tasks that of promoting within the Community a high level of employment and social protection. I am pleased that my remarks on this fundamental problem can be given added weight by the happy coincidence of the Day of Action on Employment and our debate here today.
The Edinburgh European Council recognised the need to tackle the question of low growth in the European economy and launched the "Growth Initiative". At Community level there will be new EIB loan instruments to promote major infrastructure projects in Europe. National Governments are to examine how their resources can be mobilised towards growth. For our part, we increased our capital expenditure by nearly £500 million this year, helped by Community funds. The European Commission is at present actively involved in getting this Community-wide growth initiative underway, and the next European Council will continue its work on this issue.
The referendum on the Maastricht Treaty last June demonstrated the positive approach of the Irish people to greater integration. I was very directly involved in the campaign to secure a "Yes" vote. I drew the conclusion that much more needs to be done to ensure that citizens are better informed of the key issues being considered by the Community.
The general public should have greater access to information about the Community, its decision-making procedures and the significance of those decisions. The interdepartmental European Affairs Committee, which I chair, has agreed on a number of steps which should be taken to improve the situation.
The new Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs will provide a valuable forum for national debate on Community issues. Members of the Oireachtas have a very important role to play in ensuring that there is a wider debate and a wider appreciation of Community issues. In particular, the new Committee — which has been given very wide terms of reference — will be able to lead discussion on foreign policy issues in general and Community issues, in a useful and illuminating way.
The range of issues which I have covered in my speech shows the complexity of Community business. Our debates today will help to bring a greater degree of understanding to these issues. I am sure that the contributions which will be made in the course of the day will help to formulate Ireland's positions on the key questions in the future.