merrion street

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today spoke at the Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) at Dublin Castle on "Taking Stock and Looking to the Future".  The Taoiseach outlined the key goals of Ireland's Presidency of the European Council and spoke of the significance of the European Year of Citizens:

I believe that the issue of democratic legitimacy must always be centre-stage.  It is a key pillar of President van Rompuy’s current work on the next steps for Economic and Monetary Union, and one which the Irish Presidency has worked hard to advance.

Our Presidency takes place in the European Year of Citizens and we must focus on the real needs of our citizens.  

We must ensure that citizens are aware of the many rights they enjoy from their membership of the EU – from the Four Freedoms to more specific rights such as those for consumers.

But I see this Year in broader terms – our citizens have a right to know that the Union, its institutions, its member state governments and its national parliaments are working day and night for recovery and jobs through concrete actions and decisions.

That is the agenda of my government as we work for recovery in Ireland.  It has also been at the heart of the Irish agenda as we work for recovery for Europe as a whole.

I know that you share these goals. 

The Taoiseach spoke of the agreement on the EU Budget 2014-2020:

For delivery on jobs and growth, the EU’s biggest investment tool by far, the 2014-2002 Budget on MFF was agreed by EU Heads of State and Government. We are working with the European Parliament to ensure that €960 billion can be released to fund investment and growth across areas from cohesion to research to education to our food producers.

Jobs and growth for our young people will be given a major boost with a special fund to combat youth unemployment.

This is a €6 billion fund dedicated to fighting unemployment, particularly in those regions which have been hardest hit by the crisis.  

This fund will underpin the Youth Guarantee agreed under the Irish Presidency in February, and we have to work to ensure that it can be released quickly – frontloaded to the early years of the EU budget.