“Now that the starting whistle has blown, we are ready to give it our all,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said, welcoming European Council president António Costa to Government Buildings at the first official engagement of Ireland’s six-month EU presidency.
Martin pledged to work to make Europe more secure and competitive, while promoting the EU’s values, enhancing its competitiveness and working to accelerate the enlargement of the union. He also said Ireland would seek to conclude the EU’s next budget settlement by the end of the year.
Costa, the former prime minister of Portugal who heads the European Council, the group of heads of government that is the EU’s most important decision-making body, said Ireland was “the right presidency in the right time”.
In response to questions, Martin played down concerns that Ireland as a neutral country and one with “low defence spending” could promote the strengthening of the EU’s defence during its presidency.
He said countries on the EU’s “eastern flank … see an existential threat to their way of life, from the threatening behaviour of Russia, the invasion of Ukraine … which many people in this part of the world wouldn’t have that same experience. And it’s important that we communicate that to our own people, that is how Baltics and indeed Poland and others see this. So we’re very conscious of that.”
He said Ireland was “constructive at all times” on European security.
Costa said, “Of course, Nato is the key element of European security and defence. But European security and defence goes beyond Nato.”
Both men pointed to the negotiation of the next EU budget as a key priority for the Irish presidency. While hopes are high the presidency can conclude an agreement on the next budget, Martin struck a cautious note, saying only that Government would work “to advance negotiations on the next multiannual budget, ideally, to secure agreement by the end of the year”.
In his prepared remarks, Costa said: “I left what is, perhaps, our main common challenge to last – the next multiannual financial framework. We need to reach an agreement on our next long-term budget by the end of this year. Not just any budget, but one that has the resources it needs to deliver on what our citizens expect from us.”
Meanwhile, at the official ceremony at Dublin Castle to launch the presidency, Martin said Ireland is proud it has become a “beacon of hope to others for the transformative potential of the European ideal”.
He honed in on the part Ireland has played in developing the union since first joining the partnership in 1973. He highlighted its presidency in 2004, which saw the EU’s biggest-ever expansion with the addition of 10 new member states.
He said that through the EU, all the states were stronger together,
“Ní neart go cur le chéile,” (there is no strength without unity), he said.
“We are proud to be part of a European Union in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality are valued, nurtured, and never taken for granted.,” he said.
In his ceremony address, Costa commended how Ireland had been to the “forefront” of efforts to uphold Europe’s values, which he said “must guide our work for peace and security in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and across the wider Middle East”.
Along withCosta, Martin was also joined at the ceremony by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was a special guest of the Government.
The Government has said it will make fast-tracking Ukrainian’s access to the union a priority of its presidency.
Turning to Zelenskiy, Martin said; “We will stand unswervingly by the people of Ukraine, inspired by their courage and determined to ensure that they get the peace and justice they deserve”.
Zelenskiy said Moscow “would not stop the war simply because someone asks it to”. Russian leader Vladimir Putin needed to face conditions that made it “impossible” for Russia to keep fighting, he said.
“We are doing everything we can to make the occupation unbearable for the occupier,” he said.
He has said the defence technologies developed by Ukraine during its war with Russia can be of vital assistance in bolstering European defence in the future.
“Every country needs the modern means to at least monitor and protect its own air space and sea borders . . . Without Ukraine’s experience and security expertise tested in modern war, it is simply impossible to guarantee security today, especially when it comes to air defence and maritime security.
“That is why I invite all Europe to work together as closely as possible with us.”
He said every possible step should be taken to makes it harder for Russia to continue with the war war.
Zelenskiy also welcomed the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and said he hoped the process would move quickly during the next six months.
He thanked Ireland for standing beside the people of his country.
The event was attended by two former taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny, the Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly and Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Rossa Mulcahy.
Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne accompanied the leaders to the podium, located in the courtyard of the castle.
Amhrán na bhFiann and the European Union’s anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, were performed by the Defence Forces Band and the Dublin Youth Choir. The event was hosted by actor Carrie Crowley.