It is a real pleasure to be here with you this evening to celebrate your 20th anniversary.
Anniversaries are important milestones and I am glad you are marking this one in good style. You deserve great credit for all the work you have done to advance discussion and debate on European issues throughout the years.
In many ways, we have come full circle. When you came together in 1992, the Treaty of Maastricht was just being signed and economic and monetary union was about to arrive. Now, two decades later, we are learning the lessons of the Eurozone crisis and exploring what we need to do to make EMU more stable and secure.
Through all the great institutional, constitutional, economic and international debates – and there have been many – you have been there, teasing the issues out and asking the right questions.
So can I begin this evening by paying warm tribute to all who have worked with and for the Brussels Branch of the IIEA.
You have worked hard and you deserve to celebrate - comhghairdeas ar fiche bliain d'obair chrua agus cairdeas.
You should all be proud of the personal contributions you are making and have made – for many of you, over more than the twenty years of the IIEA – to the twin causes of Europe, and Ireland in Europe.
We in the Government are very conscious of the need to work to ensure that young Irish people get the chance to follow in the footsteps of their seniors.
Anniversaries are also a chance to gather our thoughts and strength for what lies ahead.
And be in no doubt about it, there is a great deal of work to be done, for the future.
The European Union is at a crossroads – it has been and is being severely tested by the crisis and is searching for the right way forward.
That way forward has to be determined so as to put the crisis behind it in a comprehensive and definitive way.
It needs to return its focus to the vital task of generating growth and creating jobs.
It needs to find again the real sense of shared purpose and common endeavour that has brought it thus far.
Most of all, it needs to reassert its relevance and to find a way to connect itself better to the lives of its citizens. That opportunity presents itself again in 2013, the European Year of the Citizen.
I am, and always have been, a committed European, as most Irish people are. I believe in the values the Union stands for.
I know what the Union contributes to the world.
The Government I lead fully appreciates what membership has meant for Ireland and its people.
On the things that matter, the European agenda and the Irish agenda are as one.
But we also know that it isn’t perfect and that it can do better.
The European Union needs to renew and reform itself, as it has done many times before. It needs to find new focus and direction. It needs to demonstrate that it can deliver on its commitments. That it has what it takes to compete in a changing world, where old certainties, economic and political, are crumbling, and where Europe can no longer be sure of its place at the top of the global order.
Be in no doubt, the European Union is here for the long haul.
It can and it will recover, of that I have no doubt.
But the process will be a great deal quicker and a lot less painful if we pull together as we should. It is a time for determination and leadership, not for division and despair.
We need to be clear in our own minds about where we are going – what sort of a Union do we want to live in, in ten, twenty years’ time? Are we ready to do what it will take to get there?
And then we need to chart our course carefully.
We need to offer vision sufficient to take us beyond the ‘two steps forwards, one step back’ that has too often marked our response to the crisis.
Brave decisions – going beyond narrow national interests – can take us further, faster.
But we also need to be pragmatic - we are not building castles in the sky.
It may be that more budgetary and economic integration is needed if we are to secure the stability of the Union and its currency for the future.
If so, let us move swiftly to do what needs to be done.
Ireland has learned a great many lessons in recent years, many of them the hard way. But while it has been very difficult, it has not always been entirely negative. We have more insight to offer, perhaps, on what deeper economic coordination might look like - it is not unhelpful sometimes to have an external eye that can probe and challenge the important decisions a Government takes.
But in examining how to move ahead, let us not distract ourselves chasing rainbows or pursuing integration for integration’s sake. We need to focus on the task in hand.
Our citizens will be more impressed by a capacity to deliver on what we have agreed and to make a difference. They want us to show leadership and to get the economy moving again. That has to be our highest priority.
Yes, these are challenging times for the Union, and challenging times for Ireland as we work to build and secure our national recovery.
But challenging times are also rich with opportunity and possibility.
Our opportunity exists now to get Europe back on to the right path, back to putting the prosperity and well-being of our citizens at the heart of everything we do.
When Ireland steps up as Presidency in the first half of next year, we will do so with ambition and with pride.
Ambition for Europe and for what we can achieve together; pride in playing our part in turning things around.
Our agenda will be a full and demanding one.
Economics and, especially, the situation in the Eurozone will continue to dominate, and it is clear what needs to be done.
We need to generate growth and we need to create jobs. For this, we need to secure stability in the currency. That is the recipe: stability, growth, jobs.
At the end of June European Heads of State and Government took a number of important steps forward.
We agreed on the urgent need to break the vicious circle between banking and sovereign debt - and, in this regard, particular commitments were made to Ireland.
We agreed a Compact for Growth and Jobs, setting an ambitious programme of work at national and European level.
We heard from President Van Rompuy on what needs to be done to create a strong and stable economic and monetary Union, and we asked him examine the question further and to make a report to us by the end of the year.
Having set out our stall in this way, expectations are now high that we will deliver –this is a real credibility test for the Union. Be in no doubt, we will be punished for any back-sliding or stepping away from what has been agreed.
As we have recently seen, in the goldfish bowl that Europe has become, every speech, statement and press release is parsed and analysed for any nuance or shift in position. That is the way to make sure we do nothing but go round in circles. When we reach agreement at the highest levels – as we did in June – it is infinitely better that we press ahead with implementation. Actions, as they say, speak a lot louder than words.
The key task for the rest of this year and for the Irish Presidency must be delivery.
Building on what was agreed in June, we are working closely with colleagues to determine how our Programme can be made more sustainable by addressing our banking debt. It is painstaking work, but it is vital to getting Ireland back to the markets and standing on its own feet again.
I am confident that colleagues remain committed to securing a positive outcome.
Our situation is, of course, linked to the central commitment to break the sovereign/banking debt loop. Establishing a single supervisory mechanism for banks and moving forward with the other elements of banking union - common resolution and deposit guarantees – is central to this effort. Once the supervisor is in place, it will become possible for the ESM to recapitalise banks directly.
I expect that good progress on banking issues will be made under the Cypriot Presidency on the basis of the recent proposal from the Commission – the deadline for work on the supervisor is the end of the year - but if necessary we are ready to take the task forward with the urgency it deserves when our turn comes.
Similarly, we are determined to advance implementation of the Growth and Jobs Compact.
Whether it is in enhancing the prospects for young people to secure work experience or training; or whether it is deepening the single market, especially in embracing new digital possibilities, this is where the Union and Member States working together can make a real and positive impact in people’s lives.
As Presidency, we will prioritise legislative measures with the best potential to
contribute to growth and jobs.
Implementing the Compact and making real headway on the Single Market, including on the Single Market Act proposals made by the Commission today, will be at the heart of our work.
There are, of course, many policy areas at European level that can make a real contribution to growth – and many synergies with what we are working to achieve at home - including research and innovation, energy efficiency, and trade.
Across the Government we will be working hard throughout the Presidency to drive them forward.
On trade, in particular, we would particularly like to see progress on the transatlantic dimension.
Transatlantic trade and investment, in both directions, constitute the largest economic relationship in the world and are vital to both the European and American economies. At a time when we are looking to give ourselves any possible edge, having a comprehensive trade agreement in place would be a real boost to both sides.
The EU/US High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth will report in November and we look forward to building on its work during our term in office. With the right political will, reaching agreement on a mandate for a comprehensive trade agreement by next June could be achievable.
As Presidency, we will also oversee the new annual reform process – the European Semester – under which specific recommendations are made to Member States on the steps they need to take to ensure their economies are fit and future-proofed.
We can also expect to help steer the first response to the Report on EMU that President Van Rompuy will make in December.
In June, he identified four building blocks of a more robust and sustainable economic and monetary union.
I have already touched on banking union – which is a real priority for us - but he is also exploring possible steps towards greater budgetary integration and economic coordination; and towards ensuring integration is accompanied by equal steps to ensure democratic accountability and legitimacy.
He will make his final report to the European Council in December and I expect that the task of some of this work forward will fall to us as Presidency next year.
There will be difficult questions to be answered by all of us, including Ireland. But a strong and stable currency is a vital national and European interest and we need to approach these discussions in a positive and constructive frame of mind.
It may be that in the medium term we may need to consider updating the Treaties to reflect new realities – I have an open mind on this – but we need first to make the most of what is already in place and to ensure that we are using the existing legal framework to the maximum.
The European Union is not always good at selling its achievements – more has been done since the crisis broke than most appreciate.
We have tightened co-ordination of reform processes through the European Semester and the recommendations made to Member States each year now have a lot more bite.
We have reinforced the Stability and Growth Pact through the six-pack of legislation, soon to be joined by the two-pack. We now have the macro-economic alert mechanism we so obviously lacked in the past, and are better positioned to identify and tackle emerging problems and imbalances before they become a serious threat to stability.
We have adopted the Fiscal Treaty, binding Member States to sustainable budgetary positions, both as regards debt and deficits. It should enter into force at the end of the year.
We haven’t yet seen the impact of these new arrangements. Working them fully must be the first priority.
Of course, if the Union is to deliver for citizens, it also needs a budget that is fit for purpose that also reflects the economic circumstances of our times.
Negotiations on the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework are now well underway.
We are committed to reaching agreement under the Cypriot Presidency, and I have offered them my full support in achieving that goal.
As Presidency, our task will be to ensure that the detailed technical and legislative framework is put in place, working closely with the Council and the Parliament.
We will do this in a diligent, efficient and even-handed way, with the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, overseeing this work as Chair of the General Affairs Council.
And I would call on colleagues not to lose perspective on what is at stake– the Commission’s proposal is for a budget of about 1.1% of GNI. This is small in comparison to some other decisions we are facing, both as individual countries and as a Union.
Yes, we need to ensure that every euro is justified and well spent. Yes, we need to ensure that we allocate our monies wisely to areas that can help to sustain growth and to prepare us for the future, including Horizon 2020.
But despite the camps that have emerged in the discussions to date, there is, as I see it, no contradiction between favouring better spending – as I do – and calling for an adequate level of financing to equip us to achieve our shared goals.
With the right approach and sufficient political goodwill, I believe a deal can and will be achieved in November. It would send a strong and positive message about the Union’s capacity to get its business done.
Finally, as Presidency we will endeavor to work with all Member States and the institutions, in the best interests of the Union and its people.
As a small Member State, Ireland is deeply conscious of the need to do this in a fair and impartial way.
We believe strongly in what has become known as the ‘community method’, the deep cooperation between the institutions, each playing its distinctive and important role.
When this is working well, the Union is working well.
As Presidency, we are committed to working hand-in-hand as partners with the Commission and with the Parliament. I met President Barroso today. I will meet President Schultz tomorrow. I have the same message for both of them. I strongly respect and appreciate the respective roles of the institutions they lead, and I greatly look forward to working with them in the first half of next year.
Avoiding fragmentation, of the Union and of the Single Market, will also be a hallmark.
We are a Union of 27 Member States, each with its own contribution to make. There may be times when some want to go further, faster. That should not be seen as a threat. We already have Schengen and the euro. We have enhanced cooperation. Those that share a common currency will inevitably need to cooperate more than those who do not.
But the essential fabric of the Union, especially the single market, must never be compromised.
Taking on the Presidency at this watershed in the Union’s history is a challenge as exciting as it is daunting.
It is an opportunity for us to build on the Government’s efforts to restore Ireland’s international reputation and standing.
We will give it our very best.
All of my Ministers - many of whom were here today to meet the Commission – are well-prepared and raring to go.
We cannot predict everything that will confront us during our six month stint – sometimes it is the unknown unknowns that come to dominate.
But I can say with absolute certainty that we will work as hard as we can for Europe and for its people. They, you, deserve no less.