Remarks by the Taoiseach to EU Heads of Mission

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I am delighted to address you today for this important annual fixture.

Let me extend my sincere appreciation to Ambassador Vidovič at the outset for hosting, and my warmest congratulation to Slovenia’s Presidency as it draws to a successful close.

Allow me also to convey my very best wishes to Ambassador Guérand and the incoming French Presidency for what will be an important six months ahead in shaping Europe’s future.

Regrettably, for the second year in a row, this engagement is taking place virtually.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced again in recent weeks, is disrupting the lives of citizens all across Europe, and indeed the world.

It is forcing us to take unpalatable decisions, to restrict our activities to protect ourselves and others, and to reflect on our ways of working.

It remains a strain on our health systems, our economies, and within our societies.

This afternoon, I would like to speak to you about the challenges we have faced together over the course of 2021.

In addition to the pandemic and its consequences, as we approach the end of 2021,

Within the EU and beyond there has never been a sharper focus on the necessity of climate action.

We face unprecedented hybrid attacks on the EU’s borders, with migrants being instrumentalised for political gain;

People continue to take dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean, and we saw last week the dreadful loss of life in the English Channel;

We are continuing to grapple with the consequences of Brexit as we work to ensure implementation of what was agreed, including the Protocol, and more broadly to ensure stability and prosperity in Northern Ireland; And as members of the UN Security Council Ireland is actively engaged with a number of difficult international issues.

The EU is central to our response to these challenges.

As we look ahead to next year, I am firmly of the view that we must do so with a sense of optimism and renewed purpose.

If the past few years have offered us any lessons, they have showed us what is possible when we think and act collectively.

Indeed, in my first European Council meeting as Taoiseach I was delighted to support the Next Generation EU package including the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

For Ireland, we are approaching a very significant anniversary in our European journey.

In January, I will mark Ireland’s signing of our Accession Treaty 50 years ago.

Throughout next year, in advance of the 50th anniversary of our joining the EU in January 2023, we will reflect on what our EU membership has meant to Ireland, and on how we have contributed to our common Union.

We will also look forward to the next decades, including through the Conference on the Future of Europe, which will continue to meet next year.

In 2022 it will be two years since we all became familiar with the COVID-19 virus.

As we approach that anniversary, cases are continuing to surge across Europe, prompting fresh public health restrictions in many countries.

The Omicron variant is causing new concerns across the world.

Vaccines have played a central role in the pandemic. Around 93% of the eligible population in Ireland are now partially vaccinated with in excess of 91% fully vaccinated, making our vaccination programme among the most successful in Europe. Our booster programme is now well underway.

Universal and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world is a priority for Ireland, and we remain committed to the COVAX global vaccine initiative.

The EU has played a crucial role in relation to vaccination, and Ireland is supportive of the development of the European Health Union package to better prepare for and respond effectively to future emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has confronted the EU and its Member States with a crisis and challenge of immense scale.

Coordinated policy actions at EU and national levels have helped to reduce the economic impact of COVID-19, including the application of the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact.

The time is now right to discuss possible reforms to the existing economic governance framework. Ireland supports the relaunch of the review by the Commission and we will play a constructive role in the coming discussions.

The historic €2 trillion EU budgetary package agreed by the European Council last year represents a new and important milestone in EU solidarity.

Importantly, it sent a message that, in the most testing of times, even when there are differing views as to the right approach and the best way forward, EU leaders can work together and find a compromise that delivers for our citizens.

Over this budgetary cycle, Ireland will contribute more to the EU budget than we will receive, and in doing so we will extend the same solidarity to others that we have benefitted from over many decades. We do so because this is a model that works.

As we look ahead to a strong economic recovery, it is clear that data-driven innovation is the key source of productivity growth in today’s advanced economies.

That is why I attach particular importance to the further political orientations set by the October European Council.

Key elements here include pressing ahead with the Commission’s Digital Compass and Digital Decade proposals, including setting high levels of ambition for skills development, digital connectivity, and responsive public services.

We must strive further to unlock the full potential of our Single Market, including in services, and making it as easy as possible for our SMEs to scale their businesses across Europe’s borders and beyond.

Europe must continue to ensure high levels of protection for personal privacy, while providing strong new protections against illegal and harmful digital content.

We continue to strike an important balance here on shaping Europe’s future in a direction that remains open, competitive and innovation-friendly.

I welcome the General Approach reached on the Digital Services Act at the Competitiveness Council last week. This is key to creating a safer and fairer online space for EU citizens.

The General Approach agreed last week on the Digital Markets Act is also very welcome in terms of having a level playing field for all businesses. Both agreements are finely balanced, and it will be important that their essence is maintained in the trilogue negotiations.

Of course, we must also make progress on the Green transition.

I recently attended the World Leaders Summit in Glasgow and was encouraged overall by the positivity and commitment of leaders to climate action.

More of the world is now pulling in the right direction – the US is back in the Agreement and playing a positive role, including in its work with China on this key issue.

The science is accepted. The question was not ‘if’ we need to do more, but rather ‘how’ we can achieve our ambitious objectives.

The voices of those most impacted by climate change are being heard more clearly than ever – the presence of the Small Island Developing States at COP26 was felt throughout.

The Glasgow Climate Pact sends a clear signal that the world intends to keep the objectives of the Paris Agreement alive.

In July, the European Commission published its Fit for 55 Package that sets out a range of actions intended to achieve our updated 2030 targets and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

This landmark package reflects a new level of ambition and commitment from the EU.

The next decade will be decisive for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Together we can revolutionise climate policy and make Europe the first climate-neutral continent.

Ireland is ready to play our part. We enacted legislation to put a legally binding target of reducing emissions by 2030 to 51% below 2018 levels.

We also recently published our Climate Action Plan that sets out a suite of measures that will alter Ireland’s approach to Climate change.

In taking the necessary steps, we must bring our citizens with us.

We have seen how energy prices across Europe have risen substantially and each country is feeling the impact.

Over the medium to longer term, we need to build energy prices resilience.

This means increasing investment in energy efficiency and in renewables, supported by competitive markets and enhanced electricity interconnection.

The Porto Declaration signed by EU Leaders earlier this year also makes clear the EU is significantly more than just a shared marketplace – that our shared European ideal is first and foremost about improving the lives of our citizens.

It is also of vital importance that foundational EU values, like the rule of law, are preserved and promoted across the Union.

I believe shared membership of the EU means that close partners can raise concerns in a constructive and open way where there are challenges.

Ireland has consistently supported the Commission’s development of a more comprehensive range of tools to ensure that Member States adhere to their obligations, including the annual Rule of Law Process.

We believe there is a clear basis for the Commission to pursue this more proactive approach, given its role as guardian of the treaties.

Healthy democracy needs a strong, independent and pluralistic media sector.

In recent years, far too often, we have seen how misinformation and the curtailment of media freedoms can have a negative impact on social cohesion, democracy and human rights.

While Ireland’s media system has served society and democracy well over many decades, we cannot take its future for granted and the government is currently awaiting the report of an independent Commission that we established to identify a pathway to a sustainable future for our media.

It is now well over five years since the UK decided to leave the European Union. It has been a long road with many turns, but one in which European solidarity has shone through.

The unity of the EU throughout the process and its solidarity in particular with Ireland has been heartening and powerful.

Given the UK’s decision to leave not just the EU, but also the Customs Union and the Single Market it was inevitable that there would be consequences for Northern Ireland.

The Protocol exists to minimise those consequences for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland and also to ensure that the gains of the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement are protected.

It is not surprising that in a complex technical agreement, practical issues would arise when it came to implementation.

I have thanked the Commission - and President von der Leyen and Vice President Sefcovic in particular - for their determined efforts to engage with, listen to and address the concerns of people in Northern Ireland.

That outreach is reflected in the package of measures brought forward by Vice President Sefcovic – it is a significant package that goes a long way towards solving many of the problems Brexit has created in Northern Ireland.

I very much hope that the UK will engage constructively and meaningfully in the talks led by Commission Sefcovic and Lord Frost.

As I have said directly to Prime Minister Johnson, the EU, including Ireland, wants a relationship with the UK that is strong and positive, and that allows us to work constructively on the shared challenges the world faces.

The UK is like-minded on climate. It is committed to democracy and human rights. It is, and will remain, a major trading partner. Together with the EU and the US, it is a vital part of a strong Trans-Atlantic partnership.

We should be working together.

If we can resolve the issues confronting us on Brexit and the Protocol, as I firmly believe we can, we can turn a page and move forward into a new dynamic.

The EU is ready.

However, if the UK decides instead to step back from what was agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation, there should be no doubt that the response of the EU will be united and robust.

A negotiated solution is within reach if the political will is there.

It is time to look to the future.

When I spoke to you last year, I set out the government’s approach to a Shared Island, to work for the future of the whole island in a positive, practical and ambitious way, that all communities and political traditions can engage with.

Since then, we have allocated €50m through the government’s Shared Island Fund, to bring fresh impetus to all-island investment projects.

We are now moving ahead with long-standing cross-border commitments and making new investments, like the €40m North/South Research Programme I launched in July to bring institutions and researchers together across the island.

In October, as part of the revised National Development Plan, the government committed to extending the Shared Island Fund out to 2030, doubling the resource commitment to at least €1 billion.

In total, there is now cross-border funding for the decade ahead of more than €3.5 billion.

We have set out new all-island investment priorities, across virtually all sectors to create a more connected, sustainable and prosperous island for all.

Our own experience of conflict on the island of Ireland has informed our active pursuit of conflict prevention and international peace and security since we joined the UN in 1955.

I am proud of what Irish leadership has delivered this year as members of the Security Council and during our September Presidency – on humanitarian assistance in Syria, on peacekeeping transitions and on climate and security.

But just as the geopolitical environment has changed pace since 1955, so has the security environment.

While we are a militarily neutral country, we support efforts to improve the effectiveness of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. We are engaging constructively in work on the Strategic Compass.

We welcome the strong focus in the Compass on work to strengthen the EU’s ability to respond to new types of threat such as the cyberattacks and hybrid threats.

In this context, I welcome the Commission proposals to develop a Joint Cyber Unit, which will be an important tool in bolstering our collective resilience to cyber threats.

Ireland is truly a global island.

We are firm advocates of a rules-based international order and as EU members we know intimately how multilateralism can advance our collective interests.

Here in Europe, we have a global role in setting standards on many new emerging technologies, ensuring that their development and their economic function is as safe and fair as possible.

In a multipolar world, we must leverage this role and continue to look outward to drive standards and stability.

Looking across the Atlantic, I welcome the reinvigoration of the transatlantic relationship with our US partners. We want to work to further build trust.

Ireland has deep historical and cultural ties with the US, and many US companies’ presence in Ireland is what gives them access to Europe’s markets.

Our economic relationship with the US, therefore, is very much rooted in the EU’s relationship with the US.

The EU’s aim of advancing our interests, will be realised through the clear-eyed pursuit of our goals within multilateral frameworks of carefully crafted co-operation, negotiation and agreement. It cannot be achieved through protectionism.

The historic tax agreement reached by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in October has already de-escalated tax and trade tensions.

Full implementation of the two-pillar agreement will now be key to restoring, and bolstering, tax certainty.

Looking to our European neighbourhood, my fellow leaders and I had a long discussion at the last European Council in the context of the appalling actions of the Lukashenko regime on EU borders. Our partners in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have my full solidarity.

Europe has made it clear that it will not be blackmailed.

Ireland co-sponsored the 5th package of sanctions against the regime. We must ensure that the flow of people into such appalling conditions is stemmed. The EU institutions’ successful engagement with countries of origin is welcome.

People in Belarus – not only migrant people who have been so cynically exploited, but also the Belarusian people whose democratic will has been suppressed – are suffering as a result of the Lukashenko regime’s disregard for human rights, democracy and rule of law.

Protecting these fundamental principles and recognising their true value within the EU and in our neighbourhood are essential to progress.

It is important also we have a unified approach to Russia, engaging selectively when it is in our interest on issues important to us. Our “five principles” are stable and effective framework. Not least of these is full implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

On recent Russian troop movement near Ukraine’s borders, we need the right balance of vigilance and readiness while not escalating tensions. Ireland will always support the EU being a reliable partner to Ukraine.

On EU enlargement, the recent EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia focussed many minds on the risks in our neighbourhood, including the growing influence of those who do not always share our values.

I hope that progress on the accession process for Albania and North Macedonia can happen as soon as possible.

Also in our southern neighbourhood, a constructive EU-Turkey relationship can only be developed if there is no renewal of provocations or unilateral actions in breach of international law.

Ireland has been consistent in making this clear to our Turkish partners and in calling on them to show restraint.

As we look ahead, the Conference on the Future of Europe is enabling people from every corner of the continent to share their ideas on shaping Europe's future.

As you know, Ireland is a strong advocate for citizen engagement, or what is known as deliberative democracy. We have had three such Assemblies to date: the Constitutional Convention and two Citizens’ Assemblies.

Citizens’ Assemblies in Ireland have been conducted in the true spirit of fairness, openness and respectful dialogue.

Out of these discussions, very progressive societal changes have been born.

Hopefully the Conference on the Future of Europe will spark similar engagement, debate and invigorating ideas.

Ireland will mark a centenary of independence next year, as well as fifty years since signing the Treaties of Accession to the European Communities, and twenty years since starting to use the euro.

One way of seeing these milestones in the round is a reminder that the democratic ideal that is fundamental to our European Union remains relatively young – and potentially fragile – when considered against the broad sweep of human history.

Your respective countries all bring your own distinctive experiences of these recent decades. And this diversity of experience – including not least the experience of overcoming significant adversity – is undoubtedly a fundamental underpinning of what enriches us as a collective.

We are united by shared commitment to a unique project that has provided peace and prosperity for our citizens.

In a world of almost 8 billion people, the European Union may be a relatively small place – accounting for less than one-sixteenth of the global population.

But it is second to none as the leading global exemplar of sophisticated multilateralism and collective decision-making.

In a world of growing complexity and interdependence, there are surely few more important responsibilities than the renewal of this great shared endeavour for the twenty-first century ahead, and beyond.

We should probably see it as the key challenge and opportunity of our times.