This year has been an exceptionally active one for Ireland in the international sphere. Our role of presiding over the Council of the European Community during the first half of the year entailed a special responsibility for the progress of business within the Community and also participation on the Community's behalf in negotiations and contacts with a large number of other countries throughout the world. I think we acquitted ourselves with distinction in this role and that we can take pride in what was achieved in the Community under our Presidency.
This was the fourth time that Ireland has assumed the Presidency of the Community. While each of these periods made its particular demands, the pace and intensity of negotiation were recognised to have increased greatly by the time the 1990 Presidency began. The reasons for this were, of course, the development of the Community since the adoption of the Single European Act and, more recently, the developments in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe which have affected profoundly the relationships of European countries to one another and to the rest of the world.
A report has been prepared and has been circulated to all Deputies which details the progress made at the various meetings of the Council during the six-month period. The major themes of the Presidency are by now well-known to Deputies: the unification of Germany and the programme of assistance to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; the implementation of the Single European Act, with particular reference to the internal market and the social dimension; economic and monetary union; political union; creation of a people's Europe, notably action on the environment, organised crime and drugs, free movement of persons; the Community's external relations, including those with EFTA, Latin America, Asean, the Lomé countries and the Arab world; European political co-operation on issues related to security and co-operation in Europe, developments in the Middle East and South Africa.
Work on these themes involved virtually every member of the Government. The Council of the European Community met in many different compositions during the period, apart from the regular meetings of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Finance which are held once or even twice a month. Other Ministers met once, twice or three times during the six-month period, as required. These were Ministers responsible for consumer affairs, culture, development, education, energy, the environment, fisheries, health, industry, the internal market, research, social affairs, social security, telecommunications, tourism, transport and immigration. The work culminated in the meeting of the European Council in Dublin Castle in June, under the chairmanship of the Taoiseach.
The completion of the single market in 1992 will have far-reaching implications for economic and social development and many of these are the subject of legislation adopted under the Irish Presidency. In total 26 new measures were adopted in this field and 11 common positions agreed. The Taoiseach has already pointed out, in reporting to this House, that this achievement constitutes a record for any Presidency and that two-thirds of the measures required for the Single Market had now been agreed. Some of these measures have particular significance for Ireland; each one of them is a contribution to the completion of a project which has been justly described as the bedrock of European integration.
The creation of an economic area without internal frontiers ensuring the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital and underpinned by economic and social cohesion and other accompanying measures is an essential foundation of economic and monetary union and of political union. The social dimension of the Community is of particular concern to this country and the Irish Presidency gave significant impetus to work on the implementation of the Social Charter by securing agreement on a timetable for the priority proposals still to be examined. Specific measures were adopted on health and safety of workers and on training, on the exchange of young workers and on assistance for the long term employed.
Progress towards economic and monetary union was discussed in detail during the first half of the year and agreement reached on the commencement dates of the Intergovernmental Conference which will deal with this central issue. That conference was formally inaugurated by the Heads of State and Government who met in Rome last Saturday following the European Council which took place there on 14 and 15 December. The Taoiseach will shortly be reporting in detail to the Dáil on that conference and on the outcome of the European Council.
The people's Europe is a concept that draws attention to the crucial importance of promoting the rights, freedoms and welfare of the individual citizen. In the words used at the European Council in Dublin in June, it "seeks to ensure and bring home in a direct and practical way the benefit of the Community to all its citizens". In this context, the protection of the environment has been found to be of great importance to the individual citizen. The dangers of a deterioration in the physical environment have been highlighted over the last year by the serious environmental problems revealed in the industrialised areas of Eastern Europe. The Community has been coming to grips with these problems. Environment Ministers from both Eastern and Western Europe met in Dublin in June, at the invitation of the Irish Presidency and agreed that the new European Environment Agency would be a pan-European agency open to all. The declaration on the environment adopted by the European Council sets out an agenda for the community in this vital area over the coming years.
It is essential to ensure that a Europe without internal frontiers is protected against terrorism, crime and drug trafficking. Throughout the Irish Presidency, the high-level co-ordinators' group pressed ahead with their work to combat drug abuse. The group reported to the European Council and made certain recommendations in regard to prevention of drug abuse, the suppression of drug trafficking, nationally and internationally, and the control of trade in chemicals used in refining drugs. Consultative arrangements with the United States and Canada have now been agreed. Priority action is now expected to combat money laundering.
While the Community is proceeding according to the agreed timetable with the completion of the single market and the other work envisaged in the Single European Act, it must also respond to the developments taking place in the rest of the world. Over the last year, these developments have been many and varied: constitutional changes in the Soviet Union, peaceful revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe, the final year of negotiations in the present round of the GATT, the movement towards reform in South Africa, continuing concern about the situation in the Middle East, rapprochement with Iran, a worsening of the plight of the least developed countries in Africa and elsewhere, accompanied by concern about their ability to meet their international debts. These developments set the themes for the Presidency in the area of external relations. Some of them were foreseeable well in advance; others made more rapid progress than expected, requiring of the Community a similarly rapid response.
The advent of German unification, which changed the actual composition of the Community and its borders, was crucial. It was recognised at an early stage that this would form a principal focus for the six-month period. Early in the year, the Taoiseach called a special meeting of Heads of State and Government in Dublin for April to deal specifically with the issues arising for the Community from the very rapid pace of events in Central and Eastern Europe.
The dramatic changes in Central and Eastern Europe permitted the development of a new set of relationships in Europe in an atmosphere of greatly reduced tension. The European Council in Dublin welcomed those developments wholeheartedly.
It was an important objective of the Irish Presidency to strengthen the role of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe — CSCE, thus paving the way for the successful summit which took place last month in Paris. Among other points, the Charter of Paris, agreed at that summit, recognises that security in Europe is the direct concern of all 34 participating states, irrespective of whether or not they belong to a military alliance.
The political relationship between the European Community and the United States was significantly developed during the Irish Presidency. The meeting between the Taoiseach and President Bush in February established the framework for regular meetings between the two sides.
It was necessary to address a wide range of other political issues during the Irish Presidency — the Middle East, South Africa and nuclear nonproliferation.
The special meeting of Heads of State and Government in Dublin in April confirmed their commmitment to political union, and the June European Council took the decision to convene an Inter-governmental Conference on Political Union — a decision of obvious significance, which was built on at the Rome European Council of last week. That council set out guidelines for the conference which, like the Inter-governmental Conference on Economic and Monetary Union, has now met for the first time, holding its opening session in Rome on 15 December, immediately after the European Council.
The supplementary funding sought today is for the Foreign Affairs Vote, but I would like to draw your attention briefly to some internal changes in the Vote for International Co-operation which I know will be of interest to the House. The drawdowns by the European Commission in respect of the European Development Fund and subscriptions to international organisations such as the UN and OECD were lower this year than anticipated. I am pleased to tell you that this has enabled significant transfers of over £0.6 million to the Disaster Relief Fund. These have been used to make substantial allocations for Ethiopia and Sudan in particular. Overall, the position for 1990 will be that over £1.3 million will be spent on disaster relief for developing countries, or double the original allocation of £0.65 million. Of that total, £0.415 million has been allocated for Ethiopia, £0.310 million for Sudan, £0.125 million for Iran and £0.1 million for Angola and Mozambique. Allocations have also been made for Peru and Cambodia and for the repatriation of refugees to South Africa and for repatriation of refugees who fled from Iraq and Kuwait.
For 1991, as Deputies will be aware, the Government have allocated £43.2 million for Official Development Assistance, an increase of 26 per cent over the 1990 allocation. As a percentage of GNP, ODA provisions will rise from 0.16 per cent to 0.18 per cent of GNP. The main reason for the increase is funding for countries most affected by the Gulf crisis. Over the last couple of years, we have carefully ensured that we have met all our aid commitments. In 1991 we will be able to expand our activities a little, providing inter alia food aid for Egypt, one of the countries most affected by the Gulf crisis, a very large increase in funding for UNICEF and some new projects in our priority countries — primary education in Tanzania, primary health care in Sudan and rural foot bridges in Lesotho.
I commend the Supplementary Estimate to the House.
