Go raibh maith agat,a Chathaoirligh, a chomhghleacaí agus achomhaltaí. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet the committee again in the unavoidable absence of my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern.
Next Monday's meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council, GAERC, will be the final full meeting under the UK Presidency and will be mainly concerned with the preparation of the European Council on 15 and 16 December. The Minister will represent Ireland at the GAERC. The council agenda is very detailed. I propose to address first the items on the general affairs side followed by those relating to external relations.
The council will hold a detailed discussion on the future financial perspectives as part of its preparations for the European Council. It will focus on the UK Presidency's proposals which were issued on 5 December. These proposals envisage a reduction in the overall expenditure ceiling compared with the package rejected by a few member states last June. The ceiling is reduced from 1.06% of the EU's gross national income under the Luxembourg Presidency's proposals to 1.03% in the latest paper. This saving is achieved mainly at the expense of cohesion spending in the new member states, as well as by cuts in other areas, including rural development. On the revenue side, the UK has offered to limit somewhat the projected growth in its budgetary rebate.
These proposals were the subject of a ministerial conclave in Brussels yesterday afternoon, which the Minister for Foreign Affairs attended. In addition, I attended a meeting of the "friends of cohesion" group on Tuesday evening. Both meetings showed that delegations were unhappy with the thrust of the latest Presidency proposals, especially the cuts affecting cohesion and rural development. In addition, the general view was that the UK's offer on the rebate was insufficient, and that the UK needed to pay its fair share of the costs of enlargement.
There is no doubting, however, the widespread desire for a settlement of the financial perspectives next week. Our contributions at yesterday's conclave were made in an effort to help the Presidency produce a revised proposal more in tune with the needs of the Union and the wishes of the majority of member states. An agreement can still be achieved but there must be movement on several key fronts.
Our contributions at yesterday's conclave were made in an effort to help the EU Presidency produce a revised proposal more in tune with the needs of the Union and the wishes of the majority of member states. An agreement can still be achieved but there will need to be movement on several key fronts.
At next week's General Affairs and External Relations Council, Ireland will stress the need for the October 2002 agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy to be respected fully. Therefore, provision for agricultural funding for Bulgaria and Romania should be additional to the amount contained in that agreement and the 2003 policy reforms. We will continue to contest the EU Presidency's plans for significant reductions in rural development, which many member states also oppose. We will seek a much improved offer on the British rebate. We will challenge the EU Presidency's plans for a review of the EU budget. While Ireland does not object to the idea of a review, it should be part of the preparation for the EU's financing after 2013. We cannot accept a review whose outcome is meant to take effect in advance of 2014. It is too early to commence such a review in 2008, only a year after the new budgetary framework comes into force.
These are the vital issues for Ireland during these crucial days in the lead-up to the European Council. We are now engaged in a real negotiation, based on detailed proposals. The negotiations are evolving on a daily basis. The proposals sent to us on Monday will be revised before the Heads of State and Governments meet next week. We will set out in clear terms what needs to be changed if agreement is to emerge. The Taoiseach will also make our views known to the UK Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, when he meets him tomorrow in London. With the necessary political will and a spirit of compromise, the much-needed agreement on Europe's financial framework just may be possible.
Monday's General Affairs and External Relations Council will prepare the way for next week's vital meeting of the European Council. The Council's agenda consists of financial perspectives, the future direction of Europe, Africa, a global approach to migration, counter-terrorism, sustainable development, climate change and sustainable energy, growth, jobs and external relations. The EU Presidency also proposes a statement on better regulation. The major focus will be on the financial perspectives on which agreement is a vital aim. A successful summit will deliver a clear boost to the European Union's credibility.
For the most part, the draft conclusions for the European Council reflect already agreed political statements and endorse decisions by the Council of Ministers in various formations. The European Council will also note the joint UK-Austrian interim report on the national debates on the future of Europe. No debate is foreseen in what is effectively an information-sharing exercise. We have submitted our short report.
There has been considerable activity in the area of enlargement in the past three months. The Commission's monitoring reports for Bulgaria and Romania were published on 25 October. Accession negotiations were opened with Turkey and Croatia on 3 October, and the Commission published progress reports for both countries on 9 November, alongside an overall enlargement strategy paper. Ministers will take stock of these recent developments and hold an exchange of views on the Commission's enlargement strategy paper, which has been published against a backdrop of what might be termed "enlargement fatigue" within the Union and concerns about its absorptive capacity.
Ireland broadly supports the approach taken by the Commission in its strategy paper, which emphasises the need for rigorous conditionality while maintaining a credible European perspective for the countries of the western Balkans region.
The Council will also consider and approve a draft EU-Africa strategy, prior to its formal adoption by the European Council. Ireland welcomes the formulation of a long-term, coherent, comprehensive strategy on Africa, based on the principles of African ownership, equality and partnership. Preparation of the draft strategy has benefited from extensive discussions within the Council over several months. Its aims reflect Ireland's priorities, including the importance of progress towards achievement of the millennium development goals, promoting security and good governance, and enhancing African capabilities in conflict resolution and peacekeeping.
Ministers will discuss the continuing impasse in the peace process between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which has resulted in heightened tension along the border between the two countries and the consequent risk of a potential outbreak of hostilities. The Council is expected to express concern at the tense and volatile situation in this area and underline the EU's full support for the UN Security Council's demands. These are that Eritrea should lift its restrictions on the operations of UNMEE, the UN peacekeeping operation for Eritrea-Ethiopia; that both parties should reduce the numbers of troops deployed along the border; and that Ethiopia should fully accept the final and binding decision of the Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission and take immediate steps to enable demarcation to start without delay. The Council will also call on both parties to refrain from any use or threat of force and, as part of de-escalation measures, to redirect funds used for military expenditure towards development. To encourage Ethiopia and Eritrea to respond positively to the Security Council, an EU troika mission will visit the region in mid-December. Ireland fully supports this approach and we have made this clear bilaterally to both the Ethiopians and Eritreans.
The Council will have a discussion on recent developments with regard to Kosovo which is entering a particularly important phase as the process to determine its future status begins. Some 213 Irish troops continue to play an important role there as part of the UN-led KFOR peacekeeping force. I pay tribute to their excellent work. In addition to Kosovo, Ministers may also have a brief discussion on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which hopes to be granted the status of EU candidate country in the near future. The country applied to join the EU during the Irish Presidency in 2004.
Consideration of the future status of Kosovo is expected to be the dominant issue in the western Balkans region over the coming months. The Council is expected to reiterate its support for the political process to determine Kosovo's future status and for Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, the UN Status Envoy, who is well-known in Ireland from his work on the peace process. The EU is determined to participate fully in the definition of the status of Kosovo and looks forward to being closely involved in the negotiations and implementation of Kosovo's future status including through EU representative, Mr. Stefan Lehne, appointed last month.
In this process, the ongoing implementation of standards will continue to be of paramount importance. The Council is expected to reiterate that the provisional institutions of self-government in Kosovo need to make further progress including on the protection of minorities, full respect for the rule of law, a transparent public administration free from political interference and the protection of cultural and religious sites. We look forward to close co-operation between the EU and the US, UN, relevant partners and other international organisations.
Although it is not possible to predict the outcome of the status talks at this stage, certain fundamentals are clear. Kosovo's eventual future status will enable it to develop in an economically and politically sustainable way which ensures it does not constitute a security threat to its neighbours. The EU already plays an important role in Kosovo, particularly in the area of economic regeneration. Ministers will discuss the future EU role on Monday and together with our EU partners, we look forward to working with all involved to ensure the development of a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo based on European standards of human rights for the future.
The Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner, will present an oral report, outlining the main achievements of the European neighbourhood policy during 2005 and setting out priorities for 2006. Ireland has strongly supported the development of the programme as a means of engaging with neighbouring states of the EU in a structured way, unrelated to the question of EU membership. It is not expected there will be any substantive discussion on the item on this occasion.
Statements on the current round of global trade negotiations were made in the Dáil on 1 December last. The General Affairs and External Relations Council has discussed preparations for the conference at all of its recent meetings, starting with the specially convened meeting on 18 October.
The sixth World Trade Organisation ministerial talks will begin in Hong Kong on 13 December. Although the preparatory work for the meeting has continued in Geneva, the ambitions for Hong Kong have been scaled down. The hoped for major breakthrough in the talks is now unlikely to be realised. Nevertheless, the meeting will provide a good opportunity for exchanges between all the parties to the negotiations. I hope it will come to be seen as a milestone and an important step on the road to achieving a final agreement to the negotiations by the present target date of the end of 2006. A successful outcome to the negotiations by the end of 2006 is possible if all parties approach the negotiations in a spirit of goodwill and compromise.
As has been repeated many times, it is important that we aim for a balanced outcome to the negotiations, within and across all the main elements of the Doha development agenda, and with a specific focus on the needs of the poorest and least developed countries. Ireland remains fully committed to achieving a successful outcome to the negotiations.
Together with the Commission and our EU partners, Ireland will seek to ensure that any progress achieved will be across all strands of the negotiations — trade facilitation, trade in agricultural produce, in non-agricultural or industrial goods, and in services. Ireland will continue to insist that European agriculture, which has undergone a substantial reform in advance of the WTO negotiations, must not be sacrificed as the price of an overall agreement. We remain committed to a fair and balanced outcome to the negotiations which will benefit our open, trade-dependent economy.
It is expected that the Hong Kong ministerial meeting will agree on a significant package of measures to assist the developing countries. As indicated by the Minister of State responsible for development co-operation, Deputy Conor Lenihan, when he addressed the Dáil on 1 December, Ireland hopes to see progress in a number of areas including extension by all the richer countries of tariff and quota free facilities to imports from the poorest and least developed countries, on the lines of the "everything but arms" system, which the EU already applies; real progress on special and differential treatment for least developed countries; progress in adapting the rules of the agreement on the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights or TRIPS, to meet the needs of developing countries, which have severe difficulties in combating serious public health problems, such as HIV-AIDS.
The General Affairs and External Relations Council will meet in special session throughout the conference in Hong Kong and our ministerial team of the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, and Deputies Michael Ahern and Conor Lenihan, will be there for the duration of the talks. The Council will provide the Commission with any necessary guidance in the final stages of the negotiations. It will take a position on any draft WTO ministerial declaration resulting from the negotiations and will in accordance with its practice take any necessary decisions in this regard.
That concludes the agenda for next week's meeting. I look forward to the contributions and observations of the committee and am happy to reply to any questions put.
