“As a recovering country driving recovery in Europe, the Irish Presidency of the Council is about securing stability and ensuring that it leads to jobs and growth,” Ireland's ambassador to Malta Jim Henessy told a public dialogue, hosted by Meusac in Valletta on 15 January.
Ambassador Henessy was in fact quoting what Ireland's foreign minister Eamon Gilmore had said during the official visit to Dublin on 10 January by the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy together with the President of the European Commission Jose Manoel Barroso and the College of Commissioners.
“Each member state’s path to recovery depends on the entire Union’s willingness to cooperate on the national and European level in order to fulfil the proposals carried out these past few years,” the ambassador stated. “A risk to one member state poses a risk to Europe as a whole and it is as a unified entity that we can resolve our difficulties.”
“Fortunately, the Irish Presidency will be building on the extraordinary work that has already been achieved to tackle this financial crisis, with strenuous measures needed to rebuild the Greek, Portuguese, Irish and Cypriot economies. The progress shown as a result of the European Stability Mechanism, high-quality work by the European Central Bank and the recently finalised Banking Union proposal have all contributed to the EU’s resurgence. In doing so, the EU has demonstrated a unified resolve to act, and Ireland seeks to continue this trend.”
Growth leading to employment was the Union's pressing priority and must be rooted in lasting stability based on the renewal of economic governance in Europe. This implied progress in the formation of the Banking Union coupled with improved economic coordination through the European Semester process and the next phase of reforms to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as agreed by the December 2012 European Council. The Presidency would initiate discussions with the European Parliament on the Single Supervisory Mechanism agreed by Ecofin and endorsed by the European Council last month.
“We intend to ensure momentum behind the Youth Employment and Social Investment Packages and secure agreement on decisions in the areas of health, mobility and education,” Ambassador Hennessy continued. “As part of implementing the Compact for Growth and Jobs, we will work to agree on a Youth Guarantee aimed at providing training, further study or employment to young people.”
Related employment goals included the removal of obstacles discouraging the free movement of people within the Union in areas including posted workers, pension portability, enforcement of migrant workers' rights and the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Agreement on the Erasmus for All proposals would facilitate the continuation of EU-wide student mobility.
Achieving the adoption of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the EU Budget from 2014-2020 was another urgent priority for the Irish Presidency. The MFF was explicitly aligned with the Europe 2020 Strategy and funding for key policies and programmes such as the Common Agriculture Policy, Horizon 2020, Cohesion and the Connecting Europe Facility – all with a critical impact on the EU’s future, its social and economic development as well as long-term global competitiveness.
“We will promote Europe’s Digital Single Market economy by prioritising the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector,” Ambassador Hennessy asserted. “The aim is to improve access to credit, public procurement opportunities and research funding as well as a 5% total increase in funding and progress legislation on issues including cyber security (and combatting cyber crime), e-signatures/e-identification, data protection, high-speed broadband rollout and web accessibility. The Irish Presidency’s focus on SMEs would involve facilitating SME access to research funding and support to the Competitiveness for SMEs Programme (Cosme).”
While the Cohesion Policy had done much to address economic, social and territorial disparities that exist between EU regions further support was needed; one in four of Europe’s 271 regions have a GDP per capita less than 75% of the EU average. The Presidency would actively promote agreement on the pending Cohesion Package.
“Under the Horizon 2020 programme, which will make Europe a world-class research and innovation centre and boost high-potential sectors of the knowledge economy, the Irish Presidency will work to ensure that researchers have access to EU research and innovation funding in a simplified application process,” the Ambassador added.
Ireland's three priorities for agriculture and fisheries were i) reform of the Common Agriculture Policy, ii) the five-part legislative package reviewing animal and plant health policies, marketing and production of seeds and plant propagating material, official controls in the food and feed sectors and a financial framework, and iii) the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.
On maritime issues, Ireland saw the potential for growth in areas such as sustainable fisheries, marine transport, renewable energy, biotechnology, mineral seabed exploration, tourism and regional development. The Presidency would build on the agreement reached in Limassol by the Cyprus Presidency in October 2012 for a marine-focused jobs and growth policy – a positive step for the future development of an EU Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP).
“The Irish Presidency will also focus on the Blue Growth Initiative,” Ambassador Hennessy indicated, “which will essentially cater for the opportunities presented by Europe’s 89,000km of coastline. The European Commission has already estimated that by 2020, Europe’s economic activity associated with the sea will see a rise of employment from 5.4 million citizens (as it stands now) to over 7 million. The importance of a coordinated maritime policy (in its alignment with the Europe 2020 Strategy) is evident within the EU in that it makes up 75% of Europe’s external trade and 37% of trade within the EU.”
“The Presidency will also work to advance the proposal of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) which aims to balance the interests of different sectors to ensure efficient and sustainable use of member states’ precious marine resources. We will seek to improve cooperation in maritime security and surveillance and work closely with the European Defence Agency for greater collaborative measures among member states by adhering to the provisions of defence capabilities under the European Defence Agency's ‘Pooling and Sharing’.”
On asylum and migration issues Ireland intends to finalise an agreement with the European Parliament on the remaining elements of the common European Asylum System, as well as on the Seasonal Workers' Directive and the Intra-Corporate Transfers Directive while completing discussions on the establishment of the Asylum and Migration Fund Regulation. Finalising the Regulation and establishing the instrument for financial support for external borders and visas was another priority.
Turning to bilateral relations the Ambassador said that “they have never been better, being further strengthened by the highly successful talks between Prime Minister Gonzi and the Taoiseach, (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, in Dublin on 14 November. The Taoiseach extended an offer of full cooperation in assisting Malta to prepare for its EU Presidency in the first half of 2017 also congratulating it on securing the nomination of Valletta as the European Capital of Culture in 2018. There followed the highly successful visit in December of the Minister for European Affairs, Ms Lucinda Creighton.”