Ireland has rarely enjoyed a quiet turn at the helm of the Council of the European Union. Its recent presidencies have coincided with watershed moments in the bloc's history — and this time looks no different.
In 2004, Dublin oversaw the EU's largest-ever round of enlargement, welcoming 10 new member states. Nine year later, it helped broker an agreement on the bloc's 2014-2020 long-term budget. Those two issues — enlargement and the EU's finances — are once again at the heart of Ireland's eighth presidency, which began on July 1.
Although Dublin has centered its six-month agenda on competitiveness, values and security, Ireland will also seek to conclude the negotiations on the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework and advance the accession process for candidate countries.
This article is part of The Parliament's "Guide to Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU."
In an interview with The Parliament, Irish Minister of State for European affairs Thomas Byrne stressed the need to bring the MFF discussion to a close "by the end of the year," while acknowledging the final outcome remains "in the hands of the member states."
A crucial chapter of the next long-term budget is continued funding for Ukraine. Byrne argued that sustained funding must go hand in hand with Kyiv's path toward EU membership, describing accession as the "biggest support" the Union can offer.
The EU recently opened the first accession negotiation cluster, covering the fundamentals, with Ukraine and Moldova — marking an important first milestone in both countries' membership bids. The Irish Presidency also aims to bring Montenegro's accession negotiations to a close before the end of its presidency, a step that would put the Western Balkan country on course to become the EU's next member.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What do you realistically expect to achieve over the next six months?
There are lots of files that we want to not just achieve progress but to complete, and if you look at the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap, I think it would be very important to achieve as much of that as possible [of its objectives]. Moving forward with determination on those files would be very important for us.
The MFF is a [crucial] file for us too, and we want to aim to complete that by the end of the year. That's in the hands of the member states, not [just] of the Irish presidency, but we'll work hard on that.
The enlargement of the EU I think has been seen as a priority for member states as well, and we'll move forward with negotiations. So, can we conclude the negotiating process for Montenegro? That would be a key aim.
The European Commission has proposed up to €100 billion in support for Ukraine in the 2028-2034 budget, following the EU's €90 billion loan for 2026-2027. Will that amount be sufficient?
The biggest support for Ukraine would be the accession process and [Kyiv] to have that path to become a member. We'll move forward with that. The EU has already given very significant support to Ukraine. It's needed. Ukraine is holding the line for the rest of Europe and we have to be conscious of that. So, we certainly are strong supporters [and we want to] continue that type of support.
The recent opening of the first accession negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova is a strong signal of the EU's commitment to enlargement.
It's a merit-based process and it's always important to remember that. Ukraine has a lot of work to do, and I hope to open the remaining chapters for Ukraine and Moldova. I'm conscious that they're in the middle of a war that they didn't cause and they're trying to fight off Russia. We have to be conscious of the effort that they are putting in to preparing for EU membership.
You mentioned the "One Europe, One Market" plan. Is the 2027 deadline realistic?
[Former] Prime Minister Letta was always clear that deadlines are very important. I think quite frankly [that] if we didn't have this roadmap, we wouldn't have the potential to move things further down the road. The value of the deadlines is that we have targets. The Irish presidency is going to work very hard to reach those targets.
But it's not all on us. Even at the General Affairs Council level, I want to make sure on behalf of the leaders that we are keeping an eye on the progress. The simplification process is well underway and that will be a big feature of the Irish presidency. But that's only one step of the whole process. That roadmap needs to be implemented: it will potentially be transformative for the EU.
The 10 omnibus packages are a central part of the European Commission's simplification agenda. How will the Irish presidency approach those dossiers?
Our job as presidency is to adapt to the European situation, to get the consensus of the member states and Parliament. The deadline for most of them is the end of the year. We will [also] take forward some work on the tax simplification package. But there's a lot of work to do between now and then.
I will keep simplification on the agenda at the GAC because we have been entrusted with that. And we can save a lot of money for business and therefore save European jobs. I expect that will take up a lot of work and I want to pay tribute to the Cyprus presidency who has done a lot in this area.
European values are one of the pillars of your presidency. Why have you chosen to place such emphasis on them?
We have to constantly remind our citizens of fundamental European values but also remind them as well of the practical things that the EU has done to the benefit of citizens. People are aware of them because there is high support for the EU across the Union. [This support] is super-high in Ireland, but we [also] saw, for instance, in the recent Hungarian election, that the public wanted European values.
Countries want to join the EU because they see the benefits, which [are] fundamentally the values of freedom and human rights, but also the practical benefits of the various laws, traditionally on equality, on workers' rights and the environment.
Citizens expect these values to guide the EU's foreign policy as well. But many argue that the EU has fallen short of upholding them in its response to Gaza. Ireland formally recognized the State of Palestine. Should we expect the presidency to push for European sanctions against the Israeli government?
Our foreign policy obviously is unanimity and it's also slightly removed from the presidency in that we have obviously High Representative [Kaja] Kallas and the President of the European Council.
We have had certain identifiable national positions on this and they're well known at this point. There are member states who support us, but not enough at the moment. However, I think the EU needs to go out to the world and remind people of its values and of the support that it gives.
The EU is a very strong supporter for the people of Palestine and we need to continue to work hard to let people know what we're doing, to let people know where we stand.
Human rights also risks being undermined by the recent approval of so-called return hubs for migrants in third countries, despite the failed experience of the Italian centers in Albania.
It is right that we have a firm but fair migration policy. One of the aspects of that will be returns of migrants, because not everybody is going to succeed in achieving asylum or statuses in European countries.
Ireland is slightly removed from this debate. We don't automatically take part in issues in this field, but it is important that we make sure that we have a fair system [in which] migrants are allowed to come in under a proper process, where they're needed for society and for employment. And, also, [a system capable of] dealing with the issue of illegal migration which, quite frankly, the public is demanding. And we have to show response to that.
Beyond the priorities set by the presidency, a major challenge will be the evolving EU-U.K. relationship. Given Ireland's unique position and the political uncertainty following Prime Minister Keir Starmer's resignation, how will you approach this issue?
We will be very supportive of very close relationships with the U.K. From a national point of view, we maintain the closest of relationships with London and we feel that that's to our mutual benefit and to the benefit of peace in Northern Ireland. From time to time, there can also be wrinkles in the relationship, but that's normal politics.
Geography doesn't lie, geography doesn't change: Britain will always be there and we have to deal with them and we certainly will work closely with the Commission to ensure good results that preparatory work is underway at the moment and that will be to the benefit of British people and European people as well.
From an Irish point of view, we have been heavily dependent on Britain and access through Britain for electricity and natural gas. So, it is really important.
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