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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 6

Other Questions. - EU Council Meetings.

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

58 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of informal and formal Council of Ministers meetings attended by each member of the Government since June 1997; if he will give a list of the agenda items for each of the meetings in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27478/00]

There are approximately 16 Council formations at present, some of which meet as often as 12 times per year. Ministers and Ministers of State attend the various Council meetings according to their areas of functional responsibility. Following each Council meeting, a comprehensive Council press release is issued which gives a list of those attending from each member state and full details of the agenda. These press releases are available in the public domain. Each one issued since 1 January 1995 can be accessed on the EUROPA website.

Once every six months, the presidency in office invites the Ministers attending individual Council formations to an informal gathering. These meetings are known as Gymnich Meetings and take place in the country holding the presidency at the time. These serve the useful function of allowing EU Ministers to confer informally, often about longer-term and strategic issues, without the pressure of more immediate work which can often dominate Council agendas. There are no agendas for informal meetings. No formal business is transacted. No conclusions are adopted.

I have attended informal meetings of Foreign Ministers on two occasions since taking up appointment. At the first such meeting, held at the Azores during Portugal's EU Presidency on 6-7 May 2000, Ministers discussed the future of Europe, the Western Balkans, expenditure on the EU's foreign policy priorities, European security and defence policy, Austria, the situation in Zimbabwe, the next EuroMed ministerial meeting, developments in Sierra Leone, EU-Turkey relations and Russia.

At the most recent Gymnich Meeting, held at Evian Les Bains, France on 2-3 September 2000, Ministers discussed the future of Europe, the Middle East Peace Process, the EU's external relations and the Western Balkans.

With regard to informal gatherings attended by other Ministers, invitations are normally issued directly by the chairman in office of each such Council formation to the relevant Irish Minister. By their nature, such meetings are conducted through informal procedures, without the direct involvement of my Department. Should the Deputy require information about the attendance of Ministers other than those for Foreign Affairs, he might direct his question to each of the Ministers concerned.

The Minister should compliment the theological section of his Department for that reply. It did not answer my question. There are about 14 Council meetings which one of his colleagues in Cabinet could have attended since assuming office in June 1997. I shall try to be a little more banal in my language. Will he agree that it would be seriously damaging to the national interest if of those 14 meetings some of his colleagues were not able to attend, perhaps, two or three meetings, while important matters in the different areas were being discussed, particularly so far as the arrangements for such meetings had been facilitated by his Department?

It would not be unusual in any Administration of which the Deputy was a member, or of which I have been a member, or others—

Can the Minister give me one of them?

Like myself the Deputy is committed to the European ideal and loves these meetings.

I think it is the Minister's American wing rather than the European affairs wing—

It is not unusual—

The time for questions has concluded.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Deputy de Valera, attended an EU Council meeting lately for the first time ever.

It is normal for Ministers to attend. In the event of their not being able to attend it is normal for other Ministers or Ministers of State to attend on their behalf. Occasionally and exceptionally the permanent representative represents the Government at these meetings.

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