merrion street

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar is attending the March meeting of the European Council today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday).

Discussions over the two days will focus on progress in the Brexit negotiations, jobs, growth and competitiveness, external relations, the future of Europe and particularly digital taxation, and further and better Economic and Monetary Union.

“Today we will discuss and adopt conclusions on jobs, growth, competitiveness including the Single Market, the European semester, social issues, and trade. We will also discuss external relations including Turkey and the Western Balkans.

“The Leaders’ Agenda discussions – which on this occasion takes place this evening – are intended to facilitate an open and free-flowing exchange of views on the future of Europe. The main focus this evening will be on digital taxation. We believe that global solutions are needed to ensure that tax is paid by companies where value is created and profits are generated, reflecting the highly international nature of the digital economy. I will strongly argue that the EU should wait for the OECD to complete its work before deciding on how to act, and should only do so in the context of agreement on an international level.

“On Friday morning, the 19 Eurozone members will meet for a Euro summit. The focus will be on the Economic and Monetary Union. Finally, on Friday we will meet in Article 50 format to discuss the Brexit negotiations. This is an important moment in the Article 50 negotiations and it is hoped that we can agree Guidelines on the future relationship between the EU and the UK.

“I am pleased that the UK has now agreed that a backstop solution to avoid a hard border proposed in December, will form part of the legal text, and that all the issues identified by the EU side in the draft will be addressed, to deliver a legally sound solution to avoid a hard border on our island. Prime Minister May confirmed this in a letter to President Tusk on Monday.”