00:00An EU member since 1973, Ireland takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union today
00:05for the next six months. Ukraine's President Zelensky has arrived in Dublin for the symbolic
00:10ceremony that will take place today in Dublin Castle. For more, we can straight head over to
00:15the castle and bring in the Irish Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne. Good morning,
00:19Minister. So lovely to have you on Europe Today today. Just tell us, President Zelensky has
00:23arrived for the proceedings. This is the first surprise, if you like, of the presidency.
00:28Yeah, well, we're delighted that President Zelensky is here. President Costa of the European
00:32Council will be here as well. This will be a ceremony, I suppose, to mark the opening day.
00:37It's not just ceremonial. We have about 20 meetings of working parties in Brussels happening today.
00:42I've already got calls from senior MEPs on particular files this morning. So we're starting
00:49with action. We're starting straight into it. And it's a very exciting moment for all of us here
00:54in the Irish system. It's a generational moment with some really important files on enlargement
00:58when you mention Ukraine, but also on the MFF and the One Market Roadmap as well. These are key
01:04files for Ireland, but also for Europe. Just on Ukraine, how will you advance the talks on their
01:09membership into the EU over the next six months? Well, look, we've already achieved a lot now at
01:14the end of the Cyprus presidency, and I want to pay tribute to them for that. So our ambition is
01:19to
01:19open more clusters in the negotiations with Ukraine. And so we're already working on that.
01:24We've had discussions yesterday. We've continued some discussions this week to see how far we can go
01:29and to have an intergovernmental conference this month. Obviously, all of the member states have
01:33to agree to that. And we'd have to work really, really hard to get the member states to come to
01:39that view. So look, that's a serious work in progress at the moment.
01:43And of course, Mr. Brayne, this presidency comes just as the EU was seriously lagging behind the US
01:47and China. How will you help make the EU more competitive over the next six months?
01:52Well, I think the One Market Roadmap sets out a long series of actions that we should be
01:58implementing this year, much of which has to be done during the Irish presidency. That will make
02:03us more competitive, more resilient, and make it easier to do business in Ireland. On my agenda,
02:08the simplification agenda is really important to make it cheaper to do business, but also
02:13protecting the basic values that make us Europeans. But we have other items, such as the Savings
02:19and Investment Act, the EU Inc. proposal, and that long list on the roadmap. So our entire system
02:25is geared to trying to get agreement among the member states. It's not all on us. Member states
02:29have to agree, and the European Parliament has to agree as well. But if we can do this, I think
02:34it
02:34will be generational. It will be really important and a significant boost to the European economy.
02:39And just finally, what would a successful presidency look like to you? And are Irish people as enthusiastic
02:44as you today?
02:47I think Irish people are always very proud when we take over the presidency of the European Union.
02:51Irish people are very supportive of the European Union. They know the benefits that the European
02:56Union has given to peace and economic prosperity, not just in Ireland, but across the European Union.
03:01So I think there's a huge awareness in Ireland today of what's happening. And I think Irish people
03:06will have a lot of goodwill towards government and different servants who will be doing a huge
03:10amount of the work in meetings in Brussels and in Dublin. But today, it's a day to start
03:15the work, but also to mark the occasion.
03:17OK. Minister Thomas Byrne, thank you so much for joining us there from Dublin Castle, as Dublin
03:22takes on that role as presiding over the EU Council for the next six months.
03:26DR.
03:27seventy-eight
03:27You
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