EU Affairs Committee to meet with Tánaiste on EU budgetary coordination

4 March 2013  

The Tánaiste’s presence at the meeting will allow Committee Members to question him in advance of the upcoming meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC), to be held in Brussels on 11 March. The GAC meeting is scheduled to consider progress in the European Semester so far, as well as preparing the ground for the European Council summit later in the month.

Chairman of the Committee Dominic Hannigan TD said: “Our Committee meeting tomorrow afternoon is a valuable opportunity to explore Irish government policy with Tánaiste in advance of the next monthly General Affairs Council meeting. The GAC meeting is expected to focus on the Annual Growth Survey, which points to a series of priorities for Member States in the reform process. The Survey is published to feed into national economic and budgetary decisions and ensure greater economic policy coordination among Member States.

“We expect to exchange views with the Tánaiste on the Committee’s recent consideration of the European Semester process. At the end of January, we engaged with counterparts from across Member States in Dublin Castle on the indispensable role national parliaments have to play in the future of the European Union, particularly in underpinning the credibility of moves towards genuine Economic and Monetary Union. And in recent weeks, we have launched a national debate on Ireland and the Future of the European Union, through which we’ve heard a thought-provoking series of presentations on creating more durable economic policies for the EU. Some of the issues raised at these debates will flow into our discussions with the Tánaiste tomorrow.”

The meeting takes place tomorrow 5 March 2013 in Committee Room 1, LH 2000 at 3:30 pm. Committee proceedings can be followed live at here.

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Call for Submissions: The Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs is leading a national debate on Ireland and the future of the European Union. As part of this process, the Committee is inviting submissions from individual members of the public and organisations on the future of the European Union and Ireland’s role in that Union. The closing date for receipt of submissions is 29 March 2013. Read more and make a submission. 

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Committee Membership
Deputies
Dominic Hannigan, TD (Chairman)
Paschal Donohoe, TD (Vice-Chairman)
Eric Byrne TD,
Seán Crowe, TD
Timmy Dooley, TD
Bernard J Durkan, TD
John Halligan, TD
Seán Kyne, TD
Joe O’Reilly, TD

Senators
Colm Burke,
Fidelma Healy Eames,
James Heffernan,
Terry Leyden,
Kathryn Reilly