I thank the Chairman and other members of the joint committee. I am pleased to have this opportunity of looking forward with the committee to the agendas for next Monday's General Affairs and Foreign Affairs Councils, and to review briefly the outcome of last month's Council meetings. Unfortunately, I could not attend the January Council meetings because of my involvement in the Northern Ireland talks at Hillsborough Castle. The Government was represented at those meetings by the Ministers of State, Deputies Dick Roche and Peter Power.
The General Affairs Council was briefed on the Spanish Presidency programme and its four priorities: the full implementation of the Lisbon treaty, how best to secure economic recovery and job creation, strengthening the EU's foreign and security policy, and fostering citizens' rights and freedom.
There was an opportunity to address the new institutional arrangements which will focus on the General Affairs Council's role in preparing European Council agendas, as well as to address horizontal issues. There was also a paper circulated by Greece on developing an EU volunteer corps.
For this first full meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, the High Representative, Ms Catherine Ashton, was in the chair. On the Haiti crisis, ministers agreed on two priorities: first, to build camps for more than 250,000 people displaced by the earthquake; and, second, to help rebuild the Haitian Government's operational capacity. They also agreed to establish a co-ordination cell in Brussels to optimise European responses to UN requests for assistance.
In addition, Ministers adopted Council conclusions on Somalia and agreed on the importance of establishing capacity-building measures which will lead to the creation of proper governance institutions there.
They discussed Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, recognising that this operation should provide stability and security over the coming year as greater effort is focused on training programmes.
There was also a discussion of the preparations for the London conference on Afghanistan. I was unable to attend that conference, owing to my involvement in the Northern Ireland negotiations, but I had an opportunity to discuss its outcome in detail with the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Miliband, when we had bilateral discussions in London the following week.
I will now turn to next Monday's Council meetings at which I will represent the Government. At the General Affairs Council, the European strategy for growth and jobs — known as "Europe 2020" — will be touched upon in a discussion of the agenda for the March European Council. We would like to see next month's European Council make considerable progress towards agreeing a new strategy. There is wide agreement that work on this should be finalised under the Spanish Presidency.
The General Affairs Council will also have a dinner meeting with President Herman van Rompuy, which will focus on follow-up to the recent informal European Council. We will have an opportunity to engage with the President on his plans for taking forward the new strategy.
The General Affairs Council will hold a discussion on climate change. The main issues will be to review the outcome of the disappointing Copenhagen meeting last December and to assess how in future the Union can best contribute to the international negotiations. In terms of looking back at the Copenhagen conference, members will know that the substantive outcome was the Copenhagen Accord. While the accord falls short of the ambitious goals of Ireland and the EU generally, nevertheless we now have an agreement in which the countries responsible for 80% of the world's pollution are involved. That is an important step forward.
About 70 countries have now made emission-reduction pledges in line with the Copenhagen Accord, while another 30 or so have associated themselves with the document. Key countries that have made pledges include the United States, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, the Russian Federation, Japan and the European Union. The EU's pledge is a restating of the European Council conclusions — an offer to cut emissions by 20% over 1990 levels by 2020, with a conditional offer to increase the pledge to a 30% reduction provided other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and that developing countries contribute adequately according to their responsibilities and respective capabilities.
Ireland, like many others including the EU, had hoped for a comprehensive agreement to reduce global emissions. While this was not realised, our commitment to securing a comprehensive agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol remains. Ireland and the EU also remain firmly committed to reducing carbon emissions and to providing financial support to climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries.
On where we go from here, the next major meeting in the process will be at Bonn this summer, kindly hosted by our German colleagues. It will provide an opportunity for negotiators to get on with the job of negotiating an agreement. We look forward to that meeting. Ireland will continue to play its part in the important search for a legally binding agreement.
Rebuilding trust in the negotiating system and between partners will be the major challenge for the coming months. The EU will continue our leadership role by engaging with key players from the developed economies, major emerging economies, and developing and small island states in order to rebuild that confidence.
The General Affairs Council will also consider an annotated agenda for the March European Council. In addition to the new strategy for growth and jobs, items for discussion at the European Council will include follow-up to the Copenhagen conference on climate change.
Progress on Croatian accession is currently included as a possible item for discussion at the General Affairs Council, if efforts to remove obstacles arising from the maritime border dispute with Slovenia are not resolved this week.
At next Monday's meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, there will be a further discussion of the Haiti crisis — the third such discussion by the Council since the earthquake of 12 January. The humanitarian situation in Haiti remains very serious, with approximately 1.2 million people living in temporary settlements in and around Port-au-Prince. With the rainy season now imminent, it is critical that displaced persons have adequate shelter, clean water and sanitation facilities.
The EU's response has been substantial and comprehensive, with a financial commitment to date of more than €500 million and hundreds of expert personnel being deployed in support of the humanitarian effort. At its last meeting on 25 January, the Council agreed to provide a collective contribution of at least 300 police personnel to support the UN stabilisation mission. Many of these police reinforcements are now on the ground, with others preparing to deploy in the near future. The Council also established a special cell to co-ordinate contributions by member states of military and security assets.
Next Monday, the Council will review the ongoing EU approach and will consider the medium to longer-term outlook. A post-disaster needs assessment, jointly conducted by the EU with the Government of Haiti, UN, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, will begin next week. The findings of this assessment will provide a framework for the international donors' meeting, which is due to take place in New York in April. A strong statement and generous pledge by the EU at the April donors' conference will demonstrate in the clearest terms the EU's commitment to Haiti's recovery and rehabilitation.
Ireland is playing an important role as part of the overall EU response. Our total contribution to the relief effort amounts so far to more than €3 million. This has involved our largest ever humanitarian airlift of relief supplies, along with the deployment of, to date, four members of Ireland's rapid response corps in support of our humanitarian partners.
At present, we are considering our contribution to Haiti's medium and long-term recovery. Once we have reviewed the findings of the post-disaster needs assessment, we will make a significant multi-annual pledge at the April conference.
Ministers will also discuss the situation in Iran, with particular focus on the nuclear issue. No conclusions are planned at this stage, following the strongly worded declaration issued by the European Council in December and a number of recent statements from the High Representative Ms Catherine Ashton, which expressed the Union's serious concern at ongoing violation of human rights in Iran.
Recent pronouncements by President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian authorities — in particular, the announcement that Iran now intends to enrich uranium to a higher level, and the indications that it plans to proceed with construction of new enrichment plants — have left little room for doubt that Iran is intent on pursuing its nuclear ambitions and does not intend to engage seriously with the international community on this issue. This has inevitably increased the prospects of new sanctions being imposed against Iran. Discussions are now under way in New York on a new Security Council resolution. It is likely to be some weeks before any draft text comes before the Security Council for adoption. Ireland wants to see a diplomatic resolution to this crisis. We very much support the twin track approach on incentives and penalties pursued by the E3+3. Iran has left the international community with little option but to pursue the track of further sanctions, with its continued unwillingness to engage seriously.
It is important that the focus of efforts at the moment should remain on the Security Council, as a new resolution would best serve to make clear the united will of the international community on this issue. This view is shared generally within the European Union, although it is also recognised that the EU may have to adopt further unilateral measures of its own, depending on the course of developments in the Security Council. While discussion at the council will centre primarily on the prospects for a new resolution, it will also be important to review the internal situation within Iran and the continuing serious violations of human rights there.
While the recent national day of celebrations in Iran appears to have passed off without major incidents, this was in large part attributable to a severe clampdown imposed by the authorities, including major restrictions on media and private communications. As indicated, High Representative Ashton has spelt out in a number of recent statements — including one issued on 11 February — the European Union's major concerns at ongoing human rights violations, including violence against, and intimidation of opposition supporters and the suppression of ordinary Iranians' basic right to freedom of expression and assembly. The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva is currently conducting a major examination of the human rights situation in Iran as part of its universal review procedures. Ireland is engaging actively in this process. Earlier this week our permanent representative in Geneva addressed a number of direct questions to the Iranian authorities on such serious concerns as the use of the death penalty against minors, the use of torture and the serious gender equality deficiencies under current Iranian law.
Ukraine will be discussed by the Foreign Affairs Council in the context of the recent presidential election. In the second round run-off on 7 February, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych defeated the current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by 48.95% to 45.47%. Turnout for the second round was just over 69%. The international election observation mission, led by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights issued a positive assessment of the conduct of the election, which the European Union welcomed. Ireland contributed two long-term and 15 short-term observers to the OSCE mission for the first round, and two long-term and nine short-term observers for the second round. We welcome the positive assessment of the conduct of the presidential election in Ukraine. I have congratulated Mr. Yanukovych on his victory. The high turn-out represents a clear demonstration of the Ukrainian people's commitment to the democratic process. The European Union should engage quickly with the new president to assist Ukraine with its reform agenda and in negotiations on a new EU-Ukraine association agreement.
An additional item, which has just been added to the Council's agenda for next Monday is Libya. This has been done at the request of Malta, which is seeking a discussion of the situation arising for European citizens travelling to Libya following the decision of the Libyan authorities earlier this week to impose visa restrictions on persons travelling from the Schengen zone. Ireland is not a member of the Schengen zone, which comprises 22 of the EU member states along with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
The background on restrictions being imposed on persons travelling from Schengen zone countries essentially relates to a bilateral dispute between Libya and Switzerland. The European Union Presidency and missions in Libya are making intensive efforts to resolve the dispute. Our ambassador in Rome has been liaising closely with EU colleagues and the Libyan authorities in Tripoli to ensure that Irish citizens travelling to Libya are not affected by the restrictions. While there was some confusion when the restrictions were initially imposed earlier this week, the ambassador has now received assurances from the Libyan authorities to the effect that Irish citizens will not be affected by the current suspension of visas to Schengen zone countries.
I will welcome the comments and questions of the committee members.