I will first acknowledge the passing of John Bruton, considering we are dealing with European affairs. When I was before the committee to discuss the Stormont brake and aspects of the Windsor Framework, he was one of the first to get on to me about really looking at the detail and getting into the weeds as to how the Stormont brake worked and the concerns he had regarding aspects of it. You can really see how much of a European he was. He really wanted to protect the Single Market and to get Stormont up and running again. I just wanted to acknowledge that.
I attended the most recent meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels on 29 January. This was the first meeting of the Council under the Belgian Presidency and, as is customary, the foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, began with a presentation of the priorities under Belgium's Presidency, which has adopted the overall theme of “protect, strengthen, prepare”. Ireland welcomes and supports the Belgian Presidency programme, particularly its emphasis on promoting and strengthening European competitiveness and upholding the rule of law.
Before proceeding, I should also extend a word of praise to the Spanish Presidency, which achieved real progress in a number of important areas during its semester. I refer in particular to enlargement and the decision to open accession negotiations with both Ukraine and Moldova at the December meeting of the European Council and to migration, where political agreement was reached between the Parliament and Council on the migration and asylum pact after lengthy negotiations. This latter agreement represents a real political advance, which we hope will equip the EU to be better able to efficiently manage the difficult migration situation confronting all member states.
The two main substantive items for discussion at the Council were the Commission’s legislative package for defending European democracy and a review of four member states under the annual rule of law dialogue.
On the defending European democracy proposals, while there was a broad welcome for the Commission’s package, some concerns were expressed regarding a proposed directive aimed at regulating interest representation by third countries within the Union. Ireland shares these concerns as the proposed directive would potentially involve a lowering of the standards we apply domestically as regards lobbying and the registering of lobbying interests. The divergence in approaches pursued by member states on this issue was recognised as an obstacle and the Commission has undertaken to do further work to address this.
Under the rule of law item, four member states, Italy, France, Croatia and Spain, provided updates and responded to questions regarding their 2023 rule of law reports. Ireland very much welcomes the fact that the annual rule of law report and regular GAC dialogues are now an established part of the EU’s toolkit in reviewing and reinforcing rule of law standards right across the Union. It is a valuable opportunity to engage in peer review with other member states and to learn from their experiences, while reaffirming how respect for the rule of law remains a cornerstone of the Union.
Under the heading of "any other business" at the Council meeting, Slovenia and Germany presented a non-paper on extending the use of QMV in respect of the accession process. Specifically, the intention was that decisions on the opening of individual clusters and chapters in the accession process would in future be taken by QMV rather than by unanimity, as at present. The committee will be aware that Ireland has recently become an observer member of the group of friends of QMV in the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, CFSP, on the basis that we recognise that there is now a growing discussion about moving to greater use of QMV within the CFSP as part of the Union preparing itself for future enlargement and that we believe it is in our interests to follow developments in this area closely.
We are supportive of the intention behind the German and Slovenian initiative, as it is clearly intended as a means of improving the enlargement methodology. We also have made clear that we are open to exploring ways in which greater use of QMV within the CFSP can be extended within the parameters provided under the current treaties. Views differ within the Council on any move towards a greater use of QMV, while quite a few member states are still very hesitant about such a prospect. It is an era of evolving discussion to which the Council will need to return, which will also continue to be prioritised by the Belgian Presidency. Ministers also looked ahead to the forthcoming European Parliament elections, with the Presidency organising a lunchtime discussion on how to promote increased turnout at elections in June. This is an issue of interest to all member states and I appreciated the opportunity to discuss with colleagues both what are likely to be the predominant themes on citizens' minds when they go to the polls in June and how we can encourage increased turnout, particularly among younger voters, as well as dealing with the real threat posed by this information.
On the margins of the Council I also had a short bilateral meeting at his request with the Hungarian State Secretary for European Affairs, János Bóka. The state secretary wished to brief me on plans for the Hungarian Presidency, which begins on 1 July, and I in turn updated him on our own preparations and planning, which are now well under way. It was also an opportunity to impress upon the state secretary our strong hopes that agreement could be found by all 27 member states on future multi-annual funding for Ukraine at the extraordinary European Council meeting on 1 February.
The General Affairs Council itself was not directly involved on this occasion in preparing the discussion on the future for Ukraine and completion of the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, medium-term review, which took place at last week's European Council, as it was an extraordinary Council and essentially a continuation of the discussion which took place and ended inconclusively at the December European Council. I accompanied the Taoiseach to the European Council on 1 February, and it was obviously welcome that an agreement was finally reached on the overall MFF medium-term review, including the €50 billion in multi-annual financing to Ukraine, which is absolutely vital to ensure that Ukraine can continue to defend itself and resist Russia's unjust aggression. The agreement demonstrates both the strength and resilience as well as the value of EU unity, while also making clear our determination to continue to provide full support and solidarity to Ukraine and its people. I thank the Cathaoirleach again for the invitation to address the committee here this morning. I will be happy to respond to any questions members may have.
