 Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first occasion on which I've been able to deliver a speech in Ireland since I became President of the European Council a year ago, a year and a half already ago, and it is a special pleasure to do it in this St. Patrick's Hall. And it is a privilege to be invited by the Institute of International and European Affairs, knowing that many amongst you in the audience were at the forefront in securing a positive Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty. In that respect, since Lisbon created a permanent European Council President, I could even be very grateful to you for my job. Before talking about the matters of the day, I cannot resist the temptation to say that I've always had a great admiration for Ireland. And in particular, for the key role your country played in the development of European culture, a role not sufficiently appreciated across Europe. I had the good fortune of studying, as you said, at the University of Leuven, where the celebrated Irish College stands testimony to this role. And as you know, in the 17th century, it was the most important in a network of such colleges which allowed the Irish intelligentsia to get a Catholic education, in my view, my view, a good education. In Leuven, I studied both economics and philosophy in my recent task in particular in dealing with the eurozone crisis. I would say that of the two, economics is handy, but philosophy is a must. Of course, the most celebrated gift of Ireland dates from the early Middle Ages. You kept the flame of wisdom burning while much of the continental Europe went through the dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire. In contrast to elsewhere in Europe, culture and learning, including learning Latin and Greek, Mr. Chairman, was preserved in Ireland. Your countrymen were then able to return this treasure mostly through missionary work, not only Scotland and England, but also to the Frankish Empire, Emperor Charlemagne, for one, the Parter Europee, benefiting from it. Obviously, Ireland has interacted with the rest of Europe in other ways, too. Like all of your countries, it has seen successive waves of peoples reach its shores, sometimes as traders, sometimes as invaders, and sometimes as migrants. In difficult periods of famine, of depression, the Irish have emigrated as well leaving his lovely island behind, often westwards, across the Atlantic, pursuing the American dream, like so many other Europeans, but also eastward, across the Irish Sea, or even further east, across that channel, to those former illiterates from the Carolingian Empire, in what are now the Benelux countries, France, Germany, Italy, and beyond. So that's why we find Irish footprints all over continental Europe, on the battlefields, in centres of learning and in trade. And that's why we can now walk in the footsteps of James Joyce. In Paris, go to an Irish pub in Warsaw of hearing Italians recall the exploits of Liam Brady. Through all this, and through the bonds of history and geography, Ireland belongs to the European family. For all others, for the Swedes up north and the Maltese down south, for the Spaniards in the west and the Hungarians in the east, this is self-evident. You are our western front, the island put forward by the continent to give foreigners a good impression. Moreover, the Irish have an excellent reputation amongst fellow Europeans. So especially in those difficult times, we all want you to continue to share with us your wit and wisdom, to motivate others with your resilience and sense of purpose, and to be a strong and self-confident member of our club. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, the European project was born out of the idea that we would not be a prisoner of our history, but that we could move beyond it and together build a new future, making peace to build the future. And that's what France and Germany started three generations ago, replacing the bloody battlefields by Brussels negotiating rooms. By the way, the bloody battlefields of two world wars, such as the one in Maison, in Flanders, in my country, where thousands of your countrymen fought. Making peace to build the future, that's what your country has helped to achieve in Northern Ireland, ending civil strife and creating a new sense of community. It is an immense achievement of this generation, setting an example across the world. This work of peace was, of course, already started by previous generations by such eminent statesmen as former T-Shoc Garrett Fitzgerald, whom he sadly missed across Europe. In this respect, it is an extra honor to speak here in Dublin, Carson, just a few weeks after Queen Elizabeth II as the first reigning monarch of the United Kingdom to visit Ireland since the founding of the state, delivered an historic speech here marking reconciliation, reconciliation at the heart of the European idea. I read it with utmost interest. Without good relations between neighbors, Europe cannot prosper. Ladies and gentlemen, building the future, that is what we have to continue to do today. In Europe, 27 countries, and soon more than 27, have decided to do this together, tying their economies, their societies and their destinies ever closer, while all keeping their identity. Why? Quite simply because we are a group of small and medium-sized countries, sharing this portion of the globe facing common challenges. Together we have built the world's largest single market. This has brought prosperity to all of us and has increased our interdependence, as has our common currency, the euro, for 17 countries today. Ladies and gentlemen, the crisis you are facing in Ireland after years of very strong economic growth is the outcome of the burst of housing and financial bubbles. Together today I discussed the Irish economic situation with T-Shock Kenny. I congratulated the Irish authorities and people for the strong efforts the country is undertaking to come out of this crisis. The total fiscal consolidation achieved in 2009, 2010, amounts to 8 percent of GDP. This is a remarkable achievement. Further costs have fallen and exports have rebounded a promising sign. Among the reforms the Irish government has presented to the European partners this spring have particularly welcomed the JOBS initiative, supporting job creation. Job creation is key. Jobs give people hope for the future. Your government is also taking decisive action on the banking sector, and I appreciate the carefully thought out plan which will deliver a smaller banking sector fit for the needs of the Irish economy. I believe that all these impressive economic measures are well underway to restore Ireland's confidence and to further improve its reputation among fellow Europeans. The other countries of the eurozone are following your efforts attentively, because we all want you to come stronger out of it, and also because what you are doing in Ireland is needed for the financial stability of the eurozone as a whole. For that reason we are providing, together with the International Monetary Fund, 85 billion euro financial support. What happens in your country affects all the others and vice versa. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, this simple reality has been the big lesson of the crisis of 2010, and the big lesson is summarized in one word, interdependence. One can surely give a more elaborate analysis of the origins of the sovereign debt crisis, of excessive risk-taking by banks, and the lack of oversight, and of all the forms of both market failure and political failure. But the overriding lesson from the events is this one word, interdependence. The fact that the crisis in three countries, including yours, together representing only about 6 percent of the GDP of the euro area could threaten the financial stability of the entire eurozone had been totally underestimated. It has become clear now that monetary and financial market integration has proceeded much faster than the integration of our economic policies and banks' supervision. Through the banking system, sovereign bonds and citizen savings are held all over the union and even all over the world. The flow of capital followed its course, without all the consequences being drawn from it, in terms of supervision especially. This has unleashed a storm that has shaken us and from which we have not yet totally emerged. The situation in Greece is still worrisome today. These are difficult days, yet I am confident we will find agreement on a package. And this will include four elements, correcting the fiscal slippage in the budgetary effort for 2011, a new reform program for the upcoming three years including ambitious privatizations, an additional EU and IMF financial means for Greece, and finally some form of voluntary private sector involvement without triggering a default or a credit event. And as I already said it in a speech in Paris three weeks ago, we must stick to these two red lines. Yesterday I called on the Greek government and all Greek political and economic leaders to take their responsibility. This is really no time for party politics. Too much is at stake. Coming back to the Eurozone as a whole, it is not just individual countries which have to draw the lessons from the economic and monetary interdependence. The European Union as such has to do the same. We know what to do. However, the necessary political adaptations only take place slowly. Some people complain that we are often too slow, not least the impatient markets. But this slowness is inbuilt in democratic decision making. And even the more so in the European Union as we are not a state, we are not a state, but the Union of 27. I consider it my job as president of the European Council to find compromises, to make sure that heads of state or government, even if everyone has his or her own domestic situation, that we at least all work in the same direction. 18 months ago there was almost nothing to face the crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, I found an empty box when I arrived in the building of the European Council. Today, after an intense effort, we have the necessary instruments at the European level. We have a stability mechanism which can potentially issue 750 billion of euros in financial guarantees. We have an increased budgetary surveillance mechanism and a new system of macroeconomic surveillance so as to improve our ability to detect bubbles and all our imbalances. We have better coordination of national policies under the so-called euro prospect, and we have a better supervision of the banking sector. It is the ambitious result of a determined effort of all institutions and all member states. Of course, it was not without drama, not without heated debates in the Union and within countries as you can witness, but now it is almost there. As regards some of the EU's structural handicaps in this field, one can of course advocate revolutionary changes or institutional shake-ups. However, I do not think that the European Union needs a new full institutional debate right now. I am quite sure that the Irish government, which already during the 2004 presidency secured a remarkable deal on what is called today the Lisbon Treaty predecessor, would agree. And I am quite sure the Irish people would agree too. First things first. On economic governance, the important thing right now is to put into practice the far-reaching decisions we have taken. Everybody has to assume their responsibility in the new economic governance framework, the Commission in its analyses and recommendations, the Eurogroup, and I will also do my part in the European Council next week. I am also confident that with effort, time and support, the three countries, totally different countries, under EU IMF programs, will be able to turn the corner. This is true for Greece and Portugal, and is certainly true for Ireland. I know it is hard work to be done, bringing public finances back under control and regaining competitiveness. It is a bitter pill to swallow, certainly for the people, for the taxpayer, and for those who have to change jobs. I am fully aware of that. But it is, unfortunately, unavoidable. And let me repeat it. You do these just like the other European countries do these, not just for the sake of cutting deficits, not just to get the figures right. No, we do these to preserve our social model, to guarantee our welfare and jobs for our children and grandchildren. It is about building the future. You have proven your resilience in the past, and you will come out of this stronger. Ladies and gentlemen, in achieving this, time is of the essence. But I know from my own experience, it can be done. While I was budget minister in my country, we brought the public debt from more than 130 percent of GDP, the chairman mentioned it in 95, to 140 percent in 99. I inherited the deficit of 7.4 percent, 5 percent in 93, and ended with a budget almost in equilibrium. And thanks to a strong adjustment program, public debt continued to decline in the following years to 94 and to 84 percent in 2007. We could not devalue our currency due to our strong links with the German mark. So we would resolve, and with time, strong adjustments are possible. People may say, times have changed. The markets today are more impatient than in the 90s, yes and no. Moreover, the markets are not always right. Take the recent example of Latvia, whose currency is closely packed to the euro. That experience shows that an impressive free adjustment can still be done nowadays. Early 2009 Latvia was in an EU IMF program for financial stability. They wanted to keep their currency back to the euro. All markets bet it against it, and also the IMF was against it. But with support from the EU, they succeeded. So it still can be done. In this effort, you are helped by the strong fundamentals of the eurozone as a whole. By the fact that the euro is a strong stable and strong currency. By the fact that the average public deficit in the eurozone is lower than in the United States, the UK, and in Japan. Most importantly, by the fact that the economic recovery in the eurozone is quite good, with forecast of overall economic growth close to 2% this year and next year. This has already helped your exports. After three years of recession, Ireland will be back on the way to growth next year. Ladies and gentlemen, the European project has always been about peace, about prosperity and power. This was so in 1950, and it still is today. Different aspects dominate at different times. Obviously, peace more important right after the war, and the power of a common presence in the world, a stronger motive today. But all three have been present from the start on. I suppose it would be fair to say that when Ireland joined the then European economic community back in 1973, the pursuit of prosperity was the prime motivation. Indeed, in English, the community was known as the common market, mostly for industry and agriculture. And you successfully seized its opportunities, for instance, through your agriculture or by establishing yourselves with your well-educated workforce towards foreign investors as the ideal entrance port to the rest of Europe, the world's largest market. In the course of the almost 40 years, you have been part of this unique endeavor. You have no doubt discovered that Europe was much more, much more than a market. Europe, ladies and gentlemen, is about solidarity. Solidarity, which each other, first of all, and these EU region and structural funds have benefited Irish infrastructure and education and helped you to create prosperity, but also solidarity with the rest of the world. The Union has worked as a multiplier of Ireland's global influence on issues you care about, such as development aid and climate change. Because Europe is also looking outward. We are defending our values and interests in the world at large. And that is why we are now proposing a partnership with the countries in North Africa and the Middle East. We support the movements in the Arab world towards economic progress and towards democracy and political rights. We have historical tasks in the Mediterranean. These countries count on Europe. Without us, there would have been a spring too, but there will be no summer. In past 12 months, we concluded a free trade agreement with South Korea. And we are working on ones with Canada, Japan, India, and Mercosur. We help Russia to modernize its economy and society, also encouraging it to join the World Trade Organization. In the last months, I visited China to stress the importance of that strategic relationship for Europe. During the next summit with China, we will discuss how to work together in reshaping of their economic model, which offers huge opportunities for our companies and for our jobs. Ladies and gentlemen, arriving in Dublin on the 17th June is somehow silly. I am sad to have missed Bloom's Day by one day. But let me at least quote James Joyce Ulysses once. I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I established today. I am today, but I established yesterday, or some previous day. It is true in our individual lives, it is true in our political life. The work of Europe is about perseverance, about strength of will every day. You have proven in your history and you are proving today that you have the strength of will. And that's why all Europeans may be proud to have the Irish as a member of their family. I, I certainly am. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you well. Go ref mal a gift go liar. Thank you.