Dear Taoiseach, dear Micheál,
Dear President Zelenskyy,
It is a pleasure to join you here in Dublin to mark the beginning of Ireland’s presidency of the Council. Over the next six months, Ireland will be the steward of the Council agenda, working on behalf of 450 million European citizens.
Your presidency motto is crystal clear: “strength with unity”.
Now, it is time to bring the wisdom and positivity gained through Ireland’s journey in the European Union to help guide Europe through this challenging global geopolitical juncture. Values, competitiveness, and security are the three pillars of your presidency agenda. They are also key priorities for our Union.
First, values. Our Union is a union of values. Peace, democracy, solidarity, and security are in our DNA. Now more than ever, the European Union needs to defend those values within Europe and globally. I applaud your commitment to strengthening the European Union’s role as a principled global actor, and your firm support for the United Nations, multilateralism and the respect for international law.
These are principles are at the core of that we must continue to defend more than ever, and Ireland has consistently been at the forefront of that effort. They 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.
And of course, they must also remain at the heart of efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy’s presence here today is a powerful reminder that our commitment remains unbreakable.
But our vision goes beyond the war, because Ukraine’s future is in the European Union.
The recent formal opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova shows our commitment to enlargement is our best investment in peace, security, stability and prosperity in Europe. We opened the negotiations on the first cluster and we wish to open all the other clusters as soon as possible.
We must build on this renewed momentum in the accession process and work together to achieve substantial progress in negotiations with all candidate countries during the Irish presidency.
Second, competitiveness. In response to growing external pressures on our competitiveness and prosperity, European Union Leaders designated 2026 as the year of competitiveness.
The ‘One Europe, One Market’ agenda, and the roadmapagreed by the Council with the European Commission and the European Parliament, set out an ambitious timeline to achieve decisive progress in 2026 and 2027. An agenda which involves completing the single market, pursuing the strategy of simplification, ensuring affordable energy, supporting innovation and reducing strategic dependencies. And, above all, completing what has been in the pipeline since 1992: a capital markets union, a unified energy market and a unified telecommunications market. That will boost Europe’s economic growth, secure our digital transformation and strengthen our economic and industrial resilience.
Third, security. Security has a defence dimension and strengthening Europe’s security and defence remains high on the agenda as we work to implement the Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030. This is crucial for the European Union’s credibility, influence and power in a volatile and complex world.
But our security also has an economic dimension. That is why we are strengthening our economy while protecting our European social model. A social model built on inclusion, human dignity, and solidarity to address one of our citizens’ greatest concerns: access to affordable housing. That is why I placed the housing crisis on the agenda of the European Council last October. That is why the Commission presented a strategy for affordable housing. And that is why housing will be a key focus of the Irish presidency. Thank you Micheál. We must tackle this multi-layered crisis together, and your leadership will be crucial to making progress.
Last but not least, all our ambitions must be supported by appropriate financial foundations – so the Multiannual Financial Framework will be a key priority and deliverable of the Irish presidency. We have a shared responsibility to have our next long-term budget up and running at the beginning of 2028.
To make that possible, we need an overall agreement by the end of this year. That is the only way for funds to continue flowing uninterrupted to our citizens, to our companies, to our farmers.
We need to ensure that the European Union has the resources it needs to deliver on what our citizens expect from us: a more competitive, more innovative, more cohesive, more autonomous, safer and more secure Europe.
And Ireland has a decisive role to play.
Ireland’s European experience puts you in the right position to be an honest broker in these negotiations. It will be challenging, but I am confident we will reach a deal until the end of this year – and we will be counting on the Irish humour and charm to see us through.
I would like to conclude with the words of your Taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1972, during the referendum on Ireland joining the European Union, and his hopes that it would lead to a better Ireland in a better Europe:
“The road we take will determine not only the future of our country for generations to come, but also the contribution we make to the creation of a Europe that will measure up to the high ideals of the founders” of our European project.
Ireland’s European journey is a success story. I am convinced that your presidency will not just show that Ireland is at the heart of Europe. It will demonstrate that Ireland is a decisive actor in building a better and stronger Europe.
I am looking forward to working closely with you, dear Micheál, and with your government, to deliver on an ambitious shared agenda.
Thank you, and my best wishes to all of you for a successful Irish presidency.