Michael Noonan
Question:1 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach if a date has been set for the forthcoming visit to Ireland by the President of the European Commission. [11321/01]
Ceisteanna – Questions. - Official Engagements.
Michael Noonan
Question:2 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the preparatory meetings he will hold in advance of the forthcoming European Council meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11322/01]
Michael Noonan
Question:3 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach if he has received an agenda for the forthcoming European Council meeting in Sweden; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11323/01]
Michael Noonan
Question:4 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the arrangements for his forthcoming visit to Iceland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12761/01]
Michael Noonan
Question:5 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the arrangements for his forthcoming attendance at the United Nations General Assembly special session on HIV and AIDS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12762/01]
Michael Noonan
Question:6 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the preparatory meetings he will hold in advance of his attendance at the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly special session on HIV and AIDS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12763/01]
Joe Higgins
Question:7 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach the agenda for the forthcoming European Council meeting in Gothenburg. [12878/01]
Ruairí Quinn
Question:8 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach if he intends to attend the Special Session of the United Nations on HIV-AIDS in June 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12881/01]
Ruairí Quinn
Question:9 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the other European Union leaders he expects to meet in advance of the June 2001 meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12882/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together.
I am to meet with the Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Goran Persson, on Wednesday, 30 May during his tour of European capitals in preparation for the European Council meeting at Gothenburg on 15 and 16 June. If necessary, I will of course be in direct contact with other colleagues. Officials from my Department and other relevant Departments will be in contact as necessary with their colleagues in other member states and with the Commission. In advance of Gothenburg the Irish position on the various issues likely to arise will be prepared in the normal way through the Cabinet Committee on European Affairs.
As the Deputy will know, it is the normal practice that the agenda for European Councils is finalised by the Presidency shortly before the meeting. However, as of now it is expected that major items for discussion at Gothenburg will include the progress of the enlargement negotiations and the adoption of an EU strategy on sustainable development. It is also expected that Heads of State and Government will meet President Bush.
The President of the European Commission, Mr. Romano Prodi, is to visit Ireland on the weekend commencing 21 June. President Prodi visited Ireland in his capacity as President designate in May 1999 and I look forward very much to welcoming him and taking the opportunity to discuss a range of EU issues in some depth. While the details of his itinerary are still being arranged by the European Commission office in Dublin, it is likely that his visit will include meetings with myself and other Ministers and with the leaders of the main Opposition parties. I understand that he has also agreed to make a speech at a dinner hosted by the European Movement.
With regard to my visit to Iceland and my attendance at the UN General Assembly special session on HIV and AIDS, arrangements for these events are being developed at present and as such details are not yet available. It is proposed, however, that during my one day visit to Iceland on 25 June, I will meet President Grímsson and have a substantive meeting with Prime Minister Oddsson. Proposals for a meeting with senior business leaders are also being examined. In addition to my address at the UN General Assembly on HIV and AIDS on 26 June, I hope to hold a series of bilateral meetings with senior political figures from a number of African nations. I will also attend a working lunch hosted by Ambassador Richard Ryan, Ireland's representative on the UN Security Council.
I have no plans at present to hold any specific preparatory meetings in advance of my attendance at the UN summit. The Deputy may wish to note, however, that officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs will hold a consultation meeting with NGOs and other interested stakeholders on 11 May. This meeting will examine the various issues that are likely to arise in the course of the UN special session and will inform preparations for my address to the Assembly. A separate meeting with representatives from the Irish pharmaceutical industry is also envisaged.
The Government has an appalling record on environmental issues. The European Commission is already taking Ireland to court for failure to implement several important EU directives on water quality and waste management, and several other legal challenges are pending. Is the Taoiseach aware that new figures from the European Environment Agency prove that despite the Government's trenchant criticism of President Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol the rate of increase in emissions of carbon dioxide in Ireland is the highest in the European Union? Will the Taoiseach discuss this with Mr. Prodi and will he give undertakings at the Swedish summit when the issue of sustainable development, which he says is the second item on the agenda, is discussed?
I look forward to discussing the issue of sustainable development. In advance of the Gothenberg meeting the European Commission has produced a consultation paper on the preparation of a European Union strategy for sustainable development. I will be supporting that consultation paper. It provides a good basis for work leading to Gothenburg. The themes identified in the paper give a solid starting point at which to develop appropriate policy initiatives, all of which we have been involved in, as well as providing a framework for focusing on the changes in policy areas which are needed if sustainable development is to be achieved.
Like other countries, we have had some cases on which the Commission has taken action. Some of these range back over a number of years. However, the national climate change stategy which the Government has put in place is an appropriate framework for greenhouse gas taxation prioritising carbon dioxide emissions on a phased incremental basis from next year. We remain committed to this measure and will bring forward appropriate proposals in the budget next December. We recognise the importance of taxation measures to tackle climate change and we will advance that agenda.
There is a range of other specific measures I am sure Deputy Noonan, like me, would support. For example, changes in building regulations will reduce the energy required for heating in houses by approximately 35%. We have been actively working in advance on the full implementation of that strategy which covers the 2002-03 period. The forestry service is committed to achieving an annual target of 20,000 hectares of afforestation. Good grants are available under the national development plan for those areas. In recent weeks, full market access has been granted to electricity for heat and power. Next year, two new gas-fired electricity generation plants will be in place. In addition, energy issues are also being dealt with by the Energy Council. We have been working on a whole range of issues to deal with this plan. We are committed to the plan and I look forward to reporting on it in Gothenburg.
In this, as in many other matters, the Government does not practise what it preaches. The Government has a hard neck to criticise President Bush at a time when carbon dioxide emissions in Ireland are the highest in the European Union. The European Commission is taking the Government to court on a series of legal actions because we have not complied with directives on water treatment and waste management.
Some 96% of all EU environmental directives have been transposed into Irish law. We have taken action on many of these issues. The current predictions are that, in a "business as usual" scenario, Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions will rise by up to 37% over this decade, against a target ceiling of 13%. All countries will have to take radical action to meet their targets and we are no different. "Business as usual" is not an option. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has made that clear time and time again. Last winter he published a comprehensive national climate change strategy setting out a range of measures to be implemented over this decade which will ensure that we will not overshoot that 13% target ceiling. Work is already under way to ensure that the strategy measures for this year are implemented. These include the forestry research programme, developing climate change indicators and examining inward investment for its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Work will continue on that, not only this year but over this decade. This will occur in addition to the taxation issues related to greenhouse gas emissions, which I have already mentioned.
I agree with the Taoiseach that the Minister for the Environment and Local Government talks a very good game. At this stage of the game, however, when the Government has almost completed four years in office, it is about time the talk was followed by action. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has done nothing about waste disposal, apart from talking about it. He has done nothing to improve water quality either, apart from talking about it.
The Deputy is very badly informed.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has a frightful neck to criticise President Bush when our carbon dioxide emission levels are the highest in the European Union. What will the Taoiseach bring to the table when the issue of sustainable development is discussed at the Swedish summit? He should certainly not bring the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.
Bring Deputy Healy-Rae.
Bring a dunce's cap.
The Deputy should inform himself a little bit better before he starts talking about environmental matters.
Stay calm now, Minister.
He is showing his ignorance.
In all of this, I hope Deputy Noonan will ask his party colleagues up and down the country, and here in the House, to support the Minister for the Environment and Local Government's waste management strategy.
Like his predecessor did.
No. You are the Government, we are the Opposition.
The Government controls most of the councils.
Order, please.
We have a few ideas, too.
At Gothenburg I look forward to discussing what we are doing and to adhering to the EU position on the Kyoto Protocol. As the House will be aware, US President Bush made a statement that the US would no longer pursue the implementation of the protocol and that has significant implications for those committed to combating global climate change and to working on the issues which I outlined, including waste management, afforestation and CO2 emissions.
The EU actively participated in the high level consultations in New York the week before last in an effort to reach a compromise solution to the impasse. These negotiations examined compromise proposals prepared by the president of the Sixth Conference of the UN Framework on Climate Change and the Dutch Minister for the Environment and, hopefully, some issues will be resolved. The EU Presidency has also had extensive consultations with partners in the rest of the world to try to get the Kyoto Protocol back on track. Many areas of common ground have been identified which will lead to finalising negotiations.
Ireland is, however, committed to the Kyoto Protocol and will continue to work on the process involved in all areas.
Before I move to a different issue, when the Taoiseach appeals for support on a cross-party basis for programmes to deal with waste in local authorities, I will remind him that the Minister for the Environment and Local Government is introducing proposals in the Waste Management Bill, 2001, to remove that function from elected members and to vest it in county and city managers. There will not be much point in the Taoiseach appealing across the House when councillors will no longer have that power.
I had to do that because—
The Minister's colleagues would not support him.
Deputy Noonan will ask a supplementary question. This is Question Time, not a debate.
The Taoiseach probably has got it right because the Minister for the Environment and Local Government never finishes anything he starts and it will probably still be an issue for elected members.
The Taoiseach will address the special session of the UN General Assembly on HIV and AIDS. AIDS affects 36 million people worldwide. What does he expect will be achieved by this event in terms of the fight against the disease, particularly in Africa? What proposals will the Taoiseach bring to the session on behalf of the Government?
I have reported several times during Question Time over the past number of years that our initiative at the EU-Africa Summit early last year led to a substantive debate and to the EU bringing forward a policy on the issue. I led the campaign on behalf of Ireland Aid, Irish religious organisations and NGOs to get this issue on the agenda of the summit. We also wrote extensively not only to Prime Ministers and Ministers but also to many agencies about this issue. This proved quite successful in obtaining co-operation within the EU and getting Romano Prodi to take up this issue and provide assistance.
We also have allocated a substantial contribution from our own resources to UN AIDS relief. Ireland Aid will contribute approximately £1.5 million to the international AIDS vaccine initiative. We contributed practically no money to that up to a few years ago. We have pushed this issue and our NGOs in Africa work in many hospitals which care for AIDS victims. They have co-operated with Ireland Aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Government generally over the past few years.
We will follow up on what was agreed at Cairo last year and the major agreement that was successfully reached at the EU recently. We will also discuss the decision of 39 major pharmaceutical companies to drop their legal action against the South African Government and to reduce the cost of anti-AIDS drugs. All of these matters will be discussed. Our case has been based around access to affordable drugs, resources being put into prevention strategies, education and general health programmes and the development of care of orphans. They were the headings under which I campaigned and lobbied both at EU level and at the Cairo Summit and we will bring that to the UN. Since we took over our seat at the UN our officials there have continued to use their position, not on the Security Council but within the UN areas, to highlight this issue and the UN High Commissioner will attend a conference in Africa at the end of August. Our credibility, therefore, in this area is strong and we will continue to try to keep this issue at the forefront of UN health policy.
The Taoiseach will be aware of German Chancellor Schröder's proposals on the future of the European Union and that those proposals have received a fairly cool response from some colleague states, particularly France and Great Britain. What are the Taoiseach's views on these proposals and does he believe it is now necessary for the EU leaders to set out a clear blueprint for Europe after Nice so that our people, and the people of other member states, have a clear notion of where Europe is going? Does the Taoiseach agree with Chancellor Schröder's proposals or does he have an alternative view? If he has an alternative view, what is it?
I will not comment on a leaked document, that has been denied, from a draft policy paper on the SPD Party which is to be launched in the autumn because I do not know Chancellor Schröder's views.
Of course the Taoiseach knows.
That is a leaked text of the document.
The Financial Times will give the Taoiseach his speech.
I will not comment on a leaked draft. On the debate generally, two countries to date, perhaps three – Antonio Gutteres gave his views last night on the future of Europe debate – have given their views and it has been agreed that we will have a preliminary discussion at Gothenburg and that at Laeken, in Belgium, just before Christmas there will be the first substantial debate on this issue. Deputy Noonan is right in that we have to address that issue after Nice. All the countries are being asked for a comprehensive, wide-ranging debate on this issue involving not just parliamentarians but as many people as possible making up the community of countries engaging in this debate.
In so far as there is a German input, Franz Fischler gave his view in Heidelberg University last year and the argument will come down around a federal Europe and whether it should be a big jump or a continuation of the incremental stage. We will have to work out a mechanism here to address that debate and get a broad input to it. That is already being examined by the European affairs committee. We will not come to any conclusions on the issue until after the Nice referendum but it is an issue in which we will have to involve people. Needless to say, the European affairs committee will have to discuss the best way to move it into a broad ranging debate so that we can get the substantive views of the widest section of public opinion on how we should move on over the next four or five years on the other side of enlargement. The view being taken is that this will be the major issue for the next ten to 15 years so whatever happens in 2004, 2005 or 2006 – it really starts in 2004 – this should be a move that will hold the test of time until 2015 or 2020. This will be an important debate for the Union in which we will play our full part. Deputy Noonan will appreciate, however, that I am not willing to provide any views as yet on what course the debate on the future of Europe should take. We must deal with the Nice treaty in the first instance and then give consideration to the debate on the future of Europe, which will take place during next year and the year after.
I appreciate why the Taoiseach would be reluctant to comment on statements made by the Prime Minister of another country. However, while he has called for a debate, he appears to have no intention of contributing to it other than in terms of commenting on the proposals of others. Has the Government a view on how Europe should develop post-Nice? If so, will the Taoiseach outline some of the opinions of the members of the Government so that the debate in Ireland can commence? It is not adequate to merely call for a debate. At present, as far as Ireland is concerned, the debate will take place in a vacuum unless we discuss the proposals made by others. The Taoiseach, however, has stated he is reluctant to do the latter.
I wish to inform Deputy Noonan of the exact position because I believe he is operating under an enormous misapprehension. The Nice treaty must be ratified by the end of next year. The debate on the future of Europe cannot begin until that process is completed. The meeting in Laeken in December will be the first occasion on which that debate will be dealt with. The views of one country have been advertised via a leaked document and Antonia Gutteres has given a two and a half page speech on the matter. The debate in question involves the future of Europe following the passage of the Nice treaty, which must be ratified by 31 December next year. There is no debate on the future of Europe at present. However, such a debate will occur when the Nice treaty is ratified.
Does the Taoiseach live in the real world?
The Deputy read a newspaper headline to the effect that a debate on the future of Europe would take place.
Does the Taoiseach—
Order, please. The Taoiseach, without interruption.
An intergovernmental conference – Intergovernmental Conference – document on the future of Europe is due to come forward in 2004. The debate in this country will not take place in any form – this was agreed by all the groups – until the Nice treaty has been ratified. That is the position.
I wish to ask a final supplementary on this matter.
I will return to the Deputy. I must call Deputy—
Perhaps the Deputy will listen to my comments because he appears to be badly informed about this matter. Last year when the relevant debate took place I published my comprehensive views, including my preliminary views, on the Treaty of Nice and related matters. In that context, Ireland was only the second country in the European Union to put forward its preliminary views on Nice. I published and circulated those documents, which were widely reported in the media in the first week of November last. Before he comments on an area about which he clearly knows nothing, I wish to inform Deputy Noonan that that is the position.
A final supplementary.
I call Deputy Joe Higgins. I will return to Deputy Noonan, who has already asked six supplementaries.
Yes, but I also tabled six questions.
Yes, and the Deputy has had almost 30 minutes to put supplementaries in respect of those six initial questions. Other Deputies tabled questions and they should be entitled to ask supplementaries.
(Dublin West): In light of the calamitous situation which exists regarding HIV and AIDS, namely, the countless millions of people infected in Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, and the hundreds of thousands of children left orphaned as a result, will the Taoiseach, when he attends the United Nations General Assembly's special session on HIV and AIDS, for once forget his reluctance to upset United States-based multinationals and the US Administration and launch an international call for anti-HIV and anti-AIDS life-saving drugs to be prised from the grasping hands of pharmaceutical companies that control their distribution at present? Will the Taoiseach use this opportunity to call for the establishment of an international agency to manufacture these life-saving drugs and distribute them free of charge to the impoverished millions who cannot afford to buy them? It should be remembered that the pharmaceutical companies were forced to back off in South Africa because world opinion was against them. Will the Taoiseach make his mark by calling on the world powers, for example, to produce a few less warships and fighter planes and on his own Government to produce a few less tanks and to divert the resources into a major programme to put people before profits? He would be guaranteed the support of hundreds of millions of those who are disenfranchised by the increasing policy of globalisation which gives multinational companies huge power over poor people, including the power of life and death. He should lay down a marker in relation to the terrible affliction of HIV-AIDS instead of the usual bland speeches from many world leaders which mark such occasions.
I agree with some of what the Deputy said. I am sure the Deputy would give credit to the Government which has pressed hard on this issue and on some of the other issues the Deputy raised. We have taken an active view on the AIDS issue. I give much credit for that to the religious NGOs and the NGOs generally. I have seen at first hand the work in which they are involved. We have pressed this issue and some of the other issues the Deputy raised both bilaterally and at international level and we will continue to do that. Ireland Aid has mainstreamed the HIV-AIDS issue across its development activities. It has not only asked other countries to do it, although they have more resources. We have prioritised our resources and we have led much of the work in Zimbabwe and Ghana where the Irish programmes have been successful. We have increased substantially the contribution to UN aid. We will also contribute to the international AIDS vaccination initiative.
We will press the pharmaceutical companies not just to use their products in the way they do but to assist in all the preventative strategies. They have started to move in that direction in recent years, although I know it is not fast enough. Huge multinational companies are involved in this area. It was a step in the right direction when the 39 pharmaceutical companies dropped their case in South Africa recently. The UN will try to get substantive resources for preventative strategies which require enormous finance. Deputy Noonan mentioned the large numbers which are constantly growing. It is a huge political and health issue in Africa.
We have also pushed plans to deal with general health sector development and the care of orphans. Ireland is in a strong position and Ireland Aid has strong credibility in this area. I will make the case about the drugs issue, as I did in Cairo and Europe when it was discussed two years ago.
As regards the Swedish summit and the agenda of the Swedish Presidency which relates to the environment, does the Taoiseach agree that the figures now published which show Ireland nine percentage points above the 20 year acceptable figure for greenhouse gas emissions makes the target we solemnly entered into unattainable? Does he further agree that the national greenhouse gas abatement strategy published last year has not been meaningfully implemented since then? Will he give us one instance of the fiscal measures which flowed from that strategy that have been implemented to date?
As regards HIV-AIDS, has the Taoiseach taken initiatives to talk to the pharmaceutical manufacturers' association to press the point that in order to stem the epidemic which now affects 36 million people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, it is imperative to make affordable drugs available to those people and countries which are not in a position to pay current commercial prices?
I gave the agenda for the summit in my reply to Deputy Noonan. In relation to the environmental issues, it is no surprise that there is a "business as usual" policy and a 9% increase. That situation is set out by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, in the national plan. The Minister has outlined that the "business as usual" strategy does not work—
What has happened since?
On the national abatement strategy, there is a range of areas which have already been mentioned—
What about the fiscal side?
On the fiscal side the Minister has outlined that measures will be introduced in this year's budget. There may be no need to discuss other matters if the Deputy is interested only in the fiscal side.
The fiscal side has most impact.
Perhaps so, but we will see if that is the case. The plans for forestry, electricity generation, renewable energy, public transport and building regulation are important, although any one of them will not solve all problems. The Minister has agreed that to be the case in both the national plan and the national climate strategy. He said that it will be the sum of all measures which will achieve solutions. People must wake up to those realities. It is not easy to get the necessary co-operation as there is an awareness of the issues by the public, but also a reluctance to move on those. The Minister is making progress.
On the question of HIV, the Government has been pressing the matter both internationally with colleagues and locally. The local companies and the pharmaceutical side are reporting back to their head offices. The campaign aims to get pharmaceutical companies to take an entirely different attitude than previously.
Has the Taoiseach had personal meetings with such people?
Yes, and there will be further meetings before the Gothenburg summit. The association of pharmaceutical companies worldwide calls the shots in this regard and it is necessary for all with influence to press these companies to make the required changes. They had an unreasonable position and tended to look for the same costs and prices from poor countries as from wealthy western countries, which was an impossible request. Anyone with knowledge of health services, even on a small scale, knows there are brands of drugs, not on the listed scheme, that can be used in these countries.
The pharmaceutical companies can do what is required. They are not being asked to do it all over the world, yet their attitude has been consistently disappointing at international conferences. I understand that the pharmaceutical industry must make money to re-invest for research and development. However, the companies are not being asked to put products into western markets with large profit mark-ups but instead to put them into the poorest countries in the world. The combined level of poverty in those countries is enormous and their combined wealth is less than 1% of the world total. The pharmaceutical companies should provide their products to these countries. This is not an unfair request and the UN effort at the AIDS conference will be to press this case again, supported by eminent experts in the field, to try to force change. This is most important in relation to sub-Saharan Africa where the situation is worst. It is a reasonable case which Irish and other NGOs have worked hard to put forward. I will make that case again strongly next month.
I always thought of the Taoiseach as an astute political operator but he is not living in the real world if he thinks he can defer the debate on the future of Europe until after the referendum on the Treaty of Nice. Those who will campaign against the treaty in the coming weeks will raise these issues and the Taoiseach must be in a position to address them. The Fine Gael Party will campaign in favour of the treaty but the campaign will be a shaky one if this is the kind of lead the Taoiseach intends to provide. Does he have a view on where Europe should go as EU membership increases to 25? Does he have a view on any of the proposals emanating from other member states and, when the debate gets under way, will there be a clear Irish position or will the Government simply piggyback on the views of others?
My views on the future of the EU are extensively outlined in the November document, a copy of which I will forward to the Deputy. Deputy Noonan kindly listened to me outline those views in person in the EU. There is an agreement that a comprehensive debate on this issue will kick off at Laeken in the autumn and member states will work on their position papers between now and then. Part of Gerhard Schröder's paper has already been leaked. I spoke to the German Foreign Affairs Minister when he visited Ireland last week and he told me not to pay too much attention to the leaked document as work on the position paper is ongoing. Antonio Guterres of Portugal issued a two and a half page statement in which he outlined the view that this should be a small rather than a big step.
We have already commenced work on devising the best formula by which Ireland can address this from a parliamentary point of view and from the point of view of other groups, not only people with an interest in Europe. We want to elicit the views of ordinary people who do not normally involve themselves in this type of debate. I hope to be in a position to outline the Irish position at Laeken in September.
The ground rules of the debate are spelled out in four or five points which emanated from the Nice conclusions but I believe the debate will be far more wide ranging. The issues to be debated will range from the possibility of having a federal government with a federal budget to continuing to operate on a smaller scale. There is no draft blueprint at this point. A diary of events will be drawn up in Gothenburg but no policy statement will be made there. The debate will commence in Laeken and will proceed in readiness for an Intergovernmental Conference in summer 2003.
The "Future of Europe" debate, so titled following the Austrian summit, has not yet commenced. I have already outlined my views and those of the Government on the key issues. This debate will continue over the coming years and we must set out our views on the matter. We will, I hope, be in a position to outline our preliminary views by September.
The Taoiseach did not answer the question I put to him and we are quite clearly at cross purposes. He replied at the level of high politics about a debate which will commence between governments at Laeken. I am not talking about an intergovernmental debate but a debate between ordinary people in Ireland who want to know, in advance of casting their vote on 7 June, what will happen after the Nice Treaty and what will be the next step. I put it to the Taoiseach that that debate has already commenced and that so far the Government has not brought forward any answers. It is not enough to say you will inform everybody about it after Laeken. It might be too late then. In terms of the public debate on the future of Europe, will the Government put forward proposals in the context of the referendum campaign. If not, who do they expect to answer the points made by those advocating a "no" vote in that campaign?
Will the Taoiseach agree that part of the difficulty surrounding the European project is the feeling among huge numbers of our people that they are disenfranchised because they are not brought along in the debate? If the very substantial issues that remain to be addressed post-Nice are to be addressed in an inclusive manner, has the Taoiseach given consideration to the proposal by the Leader of the Labour Party to have a forum analogous to that on peace and reconciliation which brought together the views of Nationalism on a visionary agenda? Will he agree that that type of forum could be well utilised to ensure the broadest possible consensus of opinion about the shape of a future Europe in the issues to be decided in the years immediately ahead?
(Dublin West): Will the Taoiseach agree that in the remarks made by Chancellor Schröder in Berlin yesterday calling for the EU's executive commission to become a strong pan-European Government and for sweeping budgetary powers for the European Parliament lies the real agenda involved in enhanced co-operation as envisaged in the Treaty of Nice, the creation of an elite inner circle of the more powerful states? Does he agree that Chancellor Schröder has let the cat out of the bag? Is he embarrassed by those remarks given the commencement of the campaign for the ratification of the Treaty of Nice here? Will the Taoiseach agree that it is probably only a matter of time before a similar clearer statement regarding the rapid reaction force is released? In reality it is an EU army to give military muscle to the EU's economic power.
Will the Taoiseach confirm that the referendum on the Treaty of Nice will take place on 7 June?
Will the Taoiseach discuss the statement made by the Minister for Finance yesterday calling on the Commission to relax its proposed economic guidelines, which would require the Government to reverse the inflationary impact of last year's budget, with the other EU leaders at Gothenburg and will he too be calling for a relaxation of the budgetary guidelines?
The future of Europe debate is the title given to the Intergovernmental Conference 2004. My colleagues and I are answering and explaining issues relating to what has been agreed in Nice on a daily basis.
The Taoiseach heard a good "no" campaign from—
The Taoiseach to reply without interruption, please.
If the Taoiseach wants proof of what I am saying he should listen to—
The Taoiseach should be allowed to reply without interruption.
I do not think Deputy Noonan and I should take off into the flight of imagination of what may take place after 2004.
Questions need to be answered.
They will be answered. I spent an hour and a half doing so the other day.
(Interruptions.)
The Taoiseach should be allowed to reply without interruption.
Let us not mix up two different issues. The Treaty of Nice was negotiated last December, signed in February and is now before the people. What is involved in that treaty is enhanced co-operation, the Commission, the institutional issues, what will happen for the next four or five years and what will happen with enlargement. There is no change necessary this side of enlargement. That has been agreed by all member states. Enlargement to 27 states and the necessary institutional changes will take place. No other issue will affect that. A further Intergovernmental Conference, which will take at least three years – probably four or five years – to establish, will consider the other issues involved. We have yet to set up a structure in that regard.
The answer to Deputy Howlin's question is "yes". There is merit in the idea of a forum. Such a forum would be different from the two fora held over the past 25 years – the forum to achieve a consensus among parties on the national issue and the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation – both of which attempted to achieve Northern Ireland involvement.
There is merit in trying to achieve more than simply the political view. All countries would agree that one has to try to reach out to all other groups and there is merit in examining this idea. This is one of the suggestions being looked at and I will outline by September how we will best do so. This work is ongoing in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
I do not believe Deputy Joe Higgins's fears will be realised. As Minister for Labour in 1987 I heard similar concerns expressed in the House, not by Deputy Higgins, regarding the Single European Act. However, the concerns regarding our sovereignty and neutrality proved unfounded.
(Dublin West): The Taoiseach knows we are a lot further down the road.
In a useful way so we do not just sit there and do nothing on issues such as the common foreign and security policy. We now have a real input into issues such as the Petersberg Tasks and Kosovo which are UN mandated. As a neutral country which is proud of its UN role, we should not just sit around when it comes to these issues. We should take that stand. I do not believe the Deputy would not wish to be involved in such issues as that would be against everything for which he stands. I wake up every morning believing the Deputy will be out canvassing for Nice earlier than me as he has a fundamental interest in Hungary, Poland and so on.
(Dublin West): They will be delivered into the hands of multinational corporations.
The Deputy has been speaking about these people for 30 years. They were isolated by the Soviet Union but now have an opportunity to play a part in Europe.
(Dublin West): What will happen to the two million farmers in Poland? They will be wiped out.
The Taoiseach without interruption.
This is consistent with the views the Deputy has held for 30 years.
In reply to Deputy Deenihan, I do not believe there will be a change. The spring session deals with the economic guidelines and I do not think there will be any change at the Gothenburg summit.
(Dublin West): Are we on for 7 June?