Introduction.
The decision by the incoming Spanish Presidency to prioritise the implementation of the EU Citizen’s Initiative which is outlined to in the Lisbon Treaty is very welcome. This initiative is an ambitious one. The EU is a trans-national democracy consisting of 27 Member States with differing political cultures. The effective implementation of the initiative could [...]

Like others I welcome representatives of the European Movement to the meeting. Along with others, I admire the work it does, particularly the work it has done in recent years as it has adopted a newer, fresher and much more accessible approach to informing people about what happens in the European Union and the European [...]

I apologise for leaving earlier. There were several votes in the Seanad and I was unable to be present. However, I read the delegation’s document and, as the delegation is aware, the Green Party has been very concerned about the cutbacks in the past year to the budgets of the Equality Authority and the Irish [...]

I welcome the Minister and his officials and I commend him on the role he and the Department played in the release of the GOAL workers, Sharon Commins and her colleague. This is the first meeting the committee has had with the Minister since the positive result of the Lisbon referendum about which our fellow [...]

Senator Déirdre de Búrca:      I ask the Minister to excuse me for not having turned off my mobile phone before coming to the meeting. He said my ringtone was optimistic but we need optimistic ringtones on our mobile phones, anything that can help to improve the general mood.
I have a copy of a paper [...]

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Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
I feel very privileged to be asked to speak here tonight on this very interesting and important topic. I suppose that I am in a good position [...]

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
I feel very privileged to be asked to speak here tonight on this very interesting and important topic. I suppose that I am in a good position to try to answer this question, as we had a very active public debate in Ireland last year about the EU during the campaign [...]

The European Union represents, in GDP terms, the world’s largest economy. However, in real terms the EU is a Single Market or Free Trade area, comprising many different national economies. To date, it has not been very meaningful to speak about the “European economy”. However, this is likely to change as EU Member States face [...]

The Minister covered a number of issues but I will focus on two, the first of which is the European economic recovery plan, about which I have some concerns. The feeling is that it has been rather underwhelming, in the sense that it appears to be more an amalgam of national recovery plans than a [...]

Submission by:  Mr. Juan Andrés Cambindo Cuenu
I welcome Mr. Cuenu to the committee and thank him for his presentation. It is interesting that it raises for us as parliamentarians on a European Affairs committee the issue of trade agreements between the European Union and countries with poor human rights records. We discussed recently the agreement [...]