I thank everyone for their attendance. The first item on our agenda is a presentation by the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, on the forthcoming General Affairs Council meeting. I call the Minister of State and thank her for attending.
General Affairs Council: Discussion with Minister of State
I thank the Vice Chairman. I send my best wishes to the forthcoming chairman but I do not want to pre-empt the outcome of the democratic process. I look forward to welcoming the new chairman on my next visit.
I am happy once again to have the opportunity to brief the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs ahead of this month's meeting of the General Affairs Council. The GAC will gather for a morning meeting in Brussels tomorrow at which I will represent Ireland. There is a full agenda and I will endeavour to inform members of the main issues that arise and Ireland's perspectives on them.
The main agenda items include: the next multi-annual financial framework with discussion based on a questionnaire that was circulated by the Presidency; the Danish Presidency work programme for the first half of this year; a follow-up to the December European Council on which the Presidency will provide an oral update to members on action being taken in the Council; and a first look at the draft annotated agenda for the European Council meeting on 1 and 2 March. Tomorrow morning, ahead of the formal GAC session, Ministers attending the General Affairs Council meeting will have a breakfast meeting with European Council President Van Rompuy when he will brief them on preparations for the informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Monday next, 30 January.
The first item on the agenda next Friday is discussion of the EU's next multi-annual financial framework. The December European Council called on the incoming Danish Presidency to press ahead with work on the MFF and also invited all the institutions to co-operate to ensure the adoption of the multi-annual financial framework by the end of 2012.
The Danish Presidency intends now to accelerate work on the MFF. It aims to develop the main elements of a so-called "negotiation box" - a draft outline of the final agreement - which it will present to the June European Council with a view to settling as many issues as possible at that point. Of course nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed. In the event that the MFF is not adopted by the end of 2012 it could fall to the Irish Presidency in 2013 to conclude the negotiations.
In response to the Presidency's questionnaire, member states will be invited to say what their main priorities are within the overall MFF package. They will be asked whether they agree with the overall amounts proposed by the Commission last year and, if not, what level they would find appropriate and what the consequences would be for the individual headings and expenditure within the MFF.
While these questions are very significant and fundamental to the final outcome of the negotiations, I do not expect member states to lay out their final positions this week. However, the broad parameters of a possible agreement may start to emerge.
As the committee well knows, the Government wants a properly funded and properly functioning EU with the right mix of priorities, fair allocation of resources and a focus on jobs and growth. We see a need for continued food security and safety that warrants only gradual changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. We also have an express national interest in defending our share of CAP payments.
We expect the overall resources directed at the CAP to remain fixed at best and it will be in the research and innovation areas that we will see any future increase. We want to identify all possibilities for benefitting from available EU funds especially in the Europe 2020 areas, including competitiveness, productivity enhancing measures, employment, climate change and energy.
As regards proposals for new ways to fund the budget, our view has always been that the GNI key provides the fairest and most effective base. We will carefully evaluate the effects of new proposals for funding the budget, in particular any financial transaction tax. We would need to be convinced that the proposals were an improvement before we would consider any change in our position.
The Danish Presidency has said that the MFF will be discussed at every GAC during its Presidency, except for February, so this committee will have many more opportunities to consider this matter in the months ahead.
Denmark assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union following Poland on 1 January. Like Ireland, Denmark joined the EU in 1973 and this is Copenhagen's seventh Presidency. Denmark will be followed later this year by Cyprus and Ireland's Presidency will start on 1 January 2013. Denmark has taken the helm as the Union continues to face many challenges, especially the ongoing economic and financial crisis. The Government broadly supports the Presidency programme and wishes Denmark every success in fulfilling its objectives and will seek to assist the Presidency over the coming months.
Given the challenges currently facing the EU, and Ireland's upcoming Presidency in less than a year's time, the next five months will be of particular importance. Many of the issues on the EU agenda and the Danish Presidency programme will have an impact on the Irish Presidency and its programme and priorities. However, as I mentioned, Denmark joined the EU at the same time as Ireland and brings a great deal of experience to the task.
I will briefly address some specific aspects of the Danish Presidency's programme beyond the MFF which I have already mentioned. I strongly welcome the focus that runs through the Presidency programme on seeking ways of boosting the EU's competitiveness, building sustainable economic growth and in particular creating jobs. Unemployment remains one of the major problems facing Ireland and many other member states today.
In her address to the European Parliament last week the Danish Prime Minister recalled the high unemployment of the 1980s and how EU policies like the Single Market restored growth, progress and optimism. She also noted the commitment that Denmark attaches to a strong social dimension in Europe. The Government welcomes and shares the Presidency's commitment to job creation and the issue will remain one of our major priorities in 2013. Citizens want action in this area and, as in past, the EU must seek ways of delivering results.
The broad measures outlined in the Danish Presidency programme to stimulate long-term growth are also welcome. Denmark has identified a number of measures in the Single Market area to boost growth. It also places a strong emphasis on measures such as strengthening education, research and innovation in the EU to strengthen the EU economy into the future. It also places a strong emphasis on measures such as strengthening education, research and innovation in the EU to strengthen the EU economy into the future. This approach is welcomed by the Government, as is the Presidency's commitment in MFF negotiations to focus on issues such as the COSME programme, which is aimed at Europe's SME sector, and the Horizon 2020 programme which covers research and innovation and which has important potential for Ireland and its economic recovery.
Following its introduction last year, the Danish Presidency will oversee a first full round of the new European semester process which, again, has implications across multiple sectoral areas. Although as a programme country Ireland is not required to submit a national reform programme in April, we will none the less be participating in the process to the fullest extent possible. It is an important part of the effort to drive the reforms necessary to take Europe beyond crisis and back to growth.
The Presidency also outlines an ambitious green agenda which includes proposals to make the EU a world centre of innovation in this area in the future. These form part of a range of priorities in the environmental and energy area. Denmark also outlines a number of priorities in the justice and home affairs area aimed at creating a safer Union for the EU and its citizens.
Ireland wishes Denmark success in fulfilling its Presidency objectives and looks forward to working with Denmark and the Cypriot Presidency that succeeds it as preparations intensify for Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU during the first six months of 2013.
Tomorrow morning's GAC meeting will also consider the follow-up to the European Council meeting on 9 December 2011. The Danish Presidency will provide an oral update to Ministers on actions being taken across the various Council formations on foot of the orientations provided by the December European Council. As Members may recall, in addition to issues related to the stability of the euro area, to which I will return, the December European Council focused on supporting efforts to secure sustainable and job-creating growth. The European Council highlighted the need to adopt quickly measures with the greatest potential to strengthen jobs and growth through the idea of a fast-track programme. Leaders also assessed progress being made by participating member states in implementing their commitments under the Euro Plus Pact and will return to this issue at the spring European Council.
Last month's European Council also took stock of the situation relating to energy policy and particularly implementation of the orientations provided by the February 2011 European Council. Leaders also set out a range of points on which urgent progress is now required. The issue of nuclear safety was also addressed in this regard.
In the margins of the December European Council, the accession treaty with Croatia was signed, with a view to welcoming Croatia as a new member of the Union as of July 2013. Ireland has long been strongly supportive of Croatian accession to the Union and I warmly welcome the outcome of the referendum which took place in Croatia last weekend. This positive result is an encouraging vote of confidence in the EU and its future. Even at this difficult time, membership of the European Union remains an attractive prospect for our neighbours. I very much look forward to welcoming our newest partners to the table.
Finally, the December European Council agreed to defer a decision on granting Serbia candidate status, with the February General Affairs Council being asked to take a decision to be confirmed by the March European Council. The delay is to allow for further progress on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, including the implementation of agreements already reached, and for agreement to be reached on regional co-operation.
There was a lengthy discussion on the issue at the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 January, where High RepresentativeAshton described the possibility of making Serbia a candidate for membership in February as optimistic. Ireland supports candidate status for Serbia and hopes that enough can be done before the February GAC to convince others that it should be granted.
GAC Ministers will also look ahead to the European Council of on 1 and 2 March, and will consider the draft annotated agenda which has now been circulated by the President of the European Council.
While the spring European Council will review the economic situation in Europe, it will also conclude the first phase of the now annual European semester by assessing progress made in implementing the 2011 European semester country-specific recommendations and commitments under the Euro Plus Pact; giving guidance to member states, based on the Commission's annual growth survey, to be incorporated into their national reform programmes and stability or convergence programmes; putting a particular emphasis on labour market reforms, employment and competitiveness; and providing guidance to the Commission and the Council on the implementation of flagship initiatives.
The Danish Presidency will also report to the March European Council on progress made in implementing the European Council's orientations on innovation agreed in February 2011. The spring European Council will prepare the EU's position for a number of forthcoming international summits, including the G8 on 19 and 20 May, and G20 on 18 and 19 June, summits and the United Nations Rio+20 conference, to be held on 20 to 22 June 2012. The issue of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen may also be addressed on 1 and 2 March.
On foot of a request from the December European Council, President Van Rompuy, in co-operation with the Presidents of the Commission and of the euro group, will report on how to further deepen euro area fiscal integration, as well as relations between the EU and the euro area. We await that further report with interest.
Depending on the outcome of next Monday's meeting, it may also be possible to sign the new treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the economic and monetary Union in the margins of the March meeting.
Prior to tomorrow's GAC meeting, Ministers will have an opportunity to discuss with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, preparations for the informal European Council meeting taking place in Brussels next Monday. I am aware that the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade had a lengthy and in-depth exchange with this committee last Friday morning, in the wake of the preparation of the latest draft of the intergovernmental treaty, which he shared with the members of this committee. I am aware also that the Taoiseach briefed the Dáil, on Tuesday evening last, in detail on next Monday's informal meeting of the European Council and on Ireland's approach to that meeting. I do not, therefore, propose to cover all that ground again with the committee this morning, especially as our time is, unfortunately, limited. I do, however, want to touch on the central points in our approach to next Monday's informal meeting. As the Taoiseach told the Dáil the day before yesterday, we will be striving for a balanced outcome from Monday's meeting, one that marks significant progress on the two issues on the table – the intergovernmental treaty and the issue of jobs and growth. We hope it will be possible to complete work on the treaty, so that it can be prepared for signature and ratification in due course. In addition to the ministerial meeting with President Van Rompuy, senior officials will also meet tomorrow to try to iron out differences on a small number of points before the final draft is presented at the level of Heads of State and Government.
Throughout the process Ireland has prioritised a number of issues, including the need for Ireland's programme country status to be properly taken into account; the need for an appropriate basis for incorporating a debt brake at national level; the need for a workable application of the structural balances methodology; and the need to ensure that as much of the content of this new treaty as possible is put on a clear EU legal footing. In each case, the draft text of the intergovernmental treaty has been moving in the right direction. These negotiations have not yet been concluded, so until then there remains the possibility of further revisions.
Some of the issues which remain outstanding, including arrangements for the treaty to enter into force and arrangement for participation at euro summit meetings by non-eurozone member states, may require final decisions to be taken by leaders on Monday.
The second critical element to be addressed by the Heads of State and Government next week is the pursuit of jobs and growth. Both these elements are closely inter-related and mutually reinforcing and must be pursued in parallel with each other. It is with that in mind that the Government has this week, together with five like-minded partners – Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and Estonia - submitted papers to the President of the European Council identifying priority issues to drive forward the growth agenda. The Government is anxious to ensure that the statement to emerge from next Monday's informal meeting will strongly and clearly reflect the outstanding potential which exists in completing the Single Market, including through the development of the digital single market. We also want the EU to support small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, across the Union, including through reducing administrative burdens that hold them back and to ensure that they have sufficient access to funding. We have also emphasised the need to come together to address the scourge of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment.
I appreciate very much the attention of members and I look forward to hearing their comments. I would be happy to respond, within our limited timeframe, to any points or queries that arise.