 Thank you very much and good afternoon to you all ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure and honor to be here I have spoken here before but not on this subject and frankly. I never thought I would have to speak about this subject, but okay Here we are We are entering I think a new stage in the discussions with the United Kingdom about The preparation for the referendum on membership of the European Union We have recently completed a round of discussions with each other member state individually, so we are beginning to have a pretty clear idea of the positions that governments across Europe are taking and We have the letter From the British Prime Minister to the President of the European Council of the 10th of November which sets out the British governments Negotiating points and issues and We are assisting trying to help in the process of Resolving those issues so that the British Prime Minister can call the referendum and we hope That the British people will decide to remain in the European Union and Then we can remain united in the face of the very considerable challenges facing Europe at the moment We are of course well aware and I think this is the case the length and breadth of Europe of the particular implications of all these debates for this country With its geographical economic historical ties to the UK The Irish government its officials its diplomats Spare no effort in telling us that And no doubt are telling their counterparts in European capitals that as well And I think that in London and no doubt in Belfast in Cardiff and Edinburgh too People are well aware of that Irish voice Coming across this is ultimately a domestic decision of course for the British people the Commission will not campaign foreign governments will not campaign but There is no doubt that the rest of Europe has a very very major stake in in the outcome of the referendum To what extent this Negotiation and the four categories of issues which the Prime Minister Sets out in his letter will be decisive in the referendum when it comes frankly, nobody knows I think it's well known and you have a lot of experience in this country that in referendums People sometimes answer the question sometimes bring to bear on their answer to the question other issues And therefore the outcome of a referendum depends to a certain extent on the circumstances at the time Of the vote and we don't know when that will be And and we don't know whether these particular issues are All the fundamental preoccupations of the British people nevertheless, we have to take at face value What the Prime Minister tells us these are the issues that he wants to be resolved and They break down into four general categories Which are the relations between The euro countries and the non euro countries within the European Union and what is called economic governance The second issue is called competitiveness the third sovereignty Essentially the notion of ever closer union and the role of national parliament, so I will return to that and The fourth issue which we think about as free movement and welfare, but is called by the Prime Minister immigration Which we tend to use more generally in thinking about What happens between Europe as a whole and the rest of the world and not movement of people around the European Union the movement of citizens of the European Union now Some of these issues are easier than others which of course means that some are harder than others some are particularly difficult and We don't have a great deal of time If the referendum is to be held in 2016 Time is rather short already But the referendum may be held in 2017 that is the political commitment by The Prime Minister by the end of 2017. There will be a referendum. I think it's well known that 2017 is not a easy year in European politics. There are general elections in France presidential presidential elections in France federal elections in Germany and The United Kingdom happens to hold the presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2017 which would be pretty hard to conduct If you had a referendum in the offing with civil servants Operating under perda rules unable to advise their minutes Perhaps actually ministers would do very well without advice from civil servants. Who knows We we overestimate our importance, but It it would be tricky So we'll see the only thing we know for certain is it will take place by the end of 2017 the legislation calling the referendum is Pending before the houses of parliament in Westminster And there are great debates about for example the voting age should the voting age be reduced to 16 So should 16 and 17 year olds be allowed to vote as they were in the Scottish referendum But have never been allowed to vote in a nationwide Election or referendum before There are all sorts of arguments about that I Frankly shudder to think how I would have voted on anything at the age of 16, but I was a particularly immature teenager no doubt. They must have changed over the years although Won't go to that but the There's a fundamental problem in That we don't have an electoral register with the 16 and 17 year olds and unlike many other member states But perhaps not unlike this one. We don't have Identity cards and a national register of everybody which makes it very easy to find the 16 and 17 year olds We have to go out and look for them advertise The existence of this possibility To join the electoral role the electoral commission will no doubt require a certain period of time for all that to take place This could be a delaying factor In the referendum if the House of Commons accepts the amendment of the House of Lords and this becomes law So there are all these issues which are still a little bit up in the air and before the legislation is actually enacted we will not know exactly The circumstances of the referendum we know the question. It's no longer. Yes or no, but it's remain or leave That was also the electoral commissions Doing and the House of Lords and amended the bill accordingly and the government has said it would accept that in the House of Commons But we don't know the electorate and we don't know the timing obviously The first issue euro and non euro We have had in the last couple of years the experience of creating the banking union the banking union which today is Co-terminus with the eurozone so only eurozone members are part of the banking union But it is open to any others who want to join and creates a supervisory mechanism in the European Central Bank and a resolution mechanism for banks and and other Relevant financial institutions in the course of those very complicated negotiations in which I was involved we faced the difficulties of How do you build something for essentially the euro area alone? within a single market Which today includes nine Countries which do not yet have the euro as their currency and we found various solutions. No discrimination provisions were written in We faced the problem that there is no euro area budget So the euro the only the EU budget, which is the only one we have can be used for certain purposes Even if those purposes relate solely and exclusively To euro area or banking union business and we found solutions based on pro rata compensation in that context those Rules that we found and arrangements we found can be codified of course into a set of principles governing relations between the euro area and The member states which do not have the euro as their currency so I think that That is an area where some constructive work is perfectly Possible building on what has already been done And with goodwill on all sides, and I've no doubt that it exists We should be able to Set out a body of principles governing the relations between the euro area countries and the others The British outlook on this And the British have become fervent supporters of eurozone integration Is that the eurozone is bound to integrate further what Chancellor Osborne calls the inexorable logic of the single currency and That therefore there will be a deeper integration among the euro area countries That is after all the thrust of the recent five presidents report on which work is now beginning And it is also the outlook of the British government of course that the United Kingdom will not join it And that therefore this is a an issue which will continue to be important And that importance is enhanced by the fact that the city of London is of course Europe's major Financial center and it happens to be situated in the country which is saying it's not going to join the euro or the banking union so That is a first set of issues of considerable importance perhaps not on the doorstep in in Democratic Politics in election or in the or in the referendum, but obviously important For the financial sector, which as you know plays a very important role in the in the British economy The second and perhaps the easiest of the four categories is competitiveness where the British government Wants to see things like scaling back unnecessary Legislation supporting economic growth and by the way acknowledges that the new European Commission under President Jean-Claude Juncker is doing exactly that and a lot of this simply I think Requires explanation and communication about the new focus of the European Union on growth and jobs The new trade strategy that we set out a few weeks ago, which the British government welcomed and the commitment to the European Union single market with It's free flow of capital goods and services as the British letter says to which of course we would add people and workers But I'll come to that in a minute. So Competitiveness is something who could be against it after all that Is I think An issue which does not require new measures new legislation It requires just a lot of hard work in doing all the things that we should be doing and say that we're doing and have been doing And making them as effective as possible in the EU centrally and in each of its member states The third issue is called sovereignty Is divided into three? Subcategories the first of which is the notion of ever closer Union Now ever closer Union is an expression which has been used in the European treaties from the very beginning in our accession treaties And is still in the EU treaties today It is not a Legal basis for integration measures It is not in fact a legal basis for anything It is not a commitment to relentless Further integration between states and governments It is a commitment to ever closer Union among the peoples of Europe. And as I said earlier In in your parliament the best demonstration I've seen of ever closer Union recently was English football fan seeing the Marseillais at Wembley last week That's ever closer Union among the peoples of Europe a sense of common destiny challenge And solidarity but as British ministers Remind us in the UK. It has come to mean something else It has come to be associated with what I say it's not Which is a relentless drive to further integration and therefore it needs Modification explanation It needs to be reconciled with the British position which is one of Having already today a whole series of special Statuses inside the European Union no Schengen no no euro opt opt-out mechanisms for Justice and home affairs and so on you can make a whole list of British protocols and special rules all of which is Compatible with the notion of ever closer Union among the peoples of Europe that is a fact today but that no doubt can be explained better and The European Council the heads of state or government of our member states Can no doubt find ways of Making that abundantly clear The role of national parliaments is the second of the sovereignty issues and this has been a long-standing Discussion in European politics over the years how should one Bring national parliaments Into the European public debate and into the decision-making process Without in any way undermining the role of our common shared European Parliament Here the idea seems to be that if a considerable number of national parliaments Object to a proposal on subsidiarity grounds Something should happen how many and what that something should be will have to be a subject for Discussion, but it seems to us very likely that if a large number of national parliaments doesn't like a proposal because they think it is Incompatible with the notion of subsidiarity It is very likely to follow that a large number of national governments will take the same view so perhaps the focus should be on what happens in the Council of Ministers if That happens and that is what we are beginning to think about and I Think it should be possible to find some suitable arrangement the third Sovereignty point is the UK Will knee I quote will need confirmation that the EU institutions will fully respect the purpose behind the JHA Protocols in any future proposals dealing with justice and home affairs matters. I don't think that should be very difficult I'm sure the EU institutions will and do respect the purpose of and certainly the wording of the Protocols in this area. What lies behind this is concern about the choice of legal basis for certain Proposals and there has indeed been recent Litigation in the Court of Justice on these matters, but I think the necessary confirmation and reassurances should be possible That brings me to the final basket as we say a category of British requests, which is Entitled immigration and we think of as I said as one of free movement Now what has happened in the last 10 years or so is That in several member states including the United Kingdom there has been a large influx a largely Unpredicted I have to say of Workers from other member states as a result no doubt of the recession and labor markets responding in the way they do and There's no point in hiding it as a result of the enlargement of the European Union The fact the United Kingdom and Ireland I believe did not use the seven-year transitional period To delay the entry into force of free movement whereas Many other member states did therefore creating some sort of displacement effect now why people move from one country to another and you Irish have considerable experience of this often tragic is Made up of many different motivations People move for many different reasons The question which the British letter asks us to focus on is whether What is the role of incentives created by? Social security systems and The focus of mr. Cameron's letter is on The role of in-work social security benefits as they operate in the British system in particular in respect of low paid service sector jobs where Incomes are essentially topped up by a combination of different social security benefits Which by the way are being merged into one so-called universal credit system in domestic reforms taking place in the UK That's relevant because the UK itself has a moving target of Social security reform going on at home at the same time as it is seeking to marry this to the European system in this complicated political climate so the question is Put by the letter can foreigners be by which is included non Well other citizens of other EU member states can foreigners be obliged to wait four years before having in-work benefits While the British worker alongside them in the factory in the office wherever it is doing the same job paying the same tax Has immediate access to those benefits that looks very like discrimination and Therefore poses very serious problems under the single market rules which proscribe Discrimination in respect of good services capitals and labor capital and labor So we have a considerable Political and legal Task ahead of us in the discussions with the British and that certainly came through in the discussions with the other member states about how you can Run your social security system In a single market the basic rule in the EU is very simple member states have their own social security system Then they make their own social policy choices but once they've made them they apply them to all EU citizens in the same way That's What we have to find a way of doing of reconciling. I can't pretend that that is easy I think in fact it is the most difficult of all these issues Let's assume let's be optimistic for a minute and assume that we find answers to all of these questions put by mr. Cameron What form will the answers take The European Council will I think be the forum in which the resolution will be found So where the leaders all come together their next meeting is on the 17th and 18th of December which in Brussels time is tomorrow When you consider That we have to give them papers in advance that they can look at analyze Talk to their advisors about and so on so on perhaps talk to their parliaments about before coming to Brussels So that's a pretty tight schedule. And as I said, we don't have answers to all of these questions today the next European Council after that scheduled is in February and I have to say my hope is that at the very latest then we reach a resolution enabling mr. Cameron then to Consider announce the date of the referendum and then the campaign proper in the UK will start and The legal form this will take depends on the content that you want to put into it Some people say to us Will there be a I'm anticipating the questions you'll like to ask me will there be a new treaty Well, there certainly won't be a new treaty any time soon European treaties take a long time to negotiate They then take often an even longer time to ratify and to bring into force And I have to say that talking to Our colleagues across Europe. I don't sense any great appetite to embark on a great treaty change exercise immediately Given all the other challenges facing Europe and its leaders at the moment I come from a city which has been on high security alert essentially locked down for the last 72 hours And that's only one example of the dreadful challenges we face something again. I never thought I would see so We will have to see Precisely what the heads of state or government in the European Council can agree amongst themselves by way of Decision that decision may well be in the form of an international agreement between them So an internationally Binding legal agreement between them to do certain things We have had experience of in the case of both Ireland and Denmark of Dealing with particular national issues albeit in a different context by A decision of the heads of state and all government in the in the European Council Will European legislation be necessary? Can't be ruled out It takes a long time can take a long time And the Commission can only propose it. We are not masters of the final outcome Nor of course our ministers in the Council because legislation also requires the full Participation and co-decision of the European Parliament. So that is an unpredictable Process both in time and in content To give you one example of where legislation may be needed and I should have mentioned this perhaps And this will be my last point another of the welfare issues raised by the British government is child benefit Child benefit in Europe today under European regulation is paid by the state To the parent worker wherever the children may be so I am working in Ireland I'm entitled a child benefit. I get the child benefit because I'm working in Ireland And the Irish do not Ask me well, where are your children? They may be here or they may be back at home The British government says that's unfair. We have lots of Eastern Central Europeans Working in the UK Some of them leave their children at home for various reasons. It's far cheaper to raise a child Back there than it is here. So why don't they pay? Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, wherever it is. Why don't they pay the child benefit not us? That's I don't think likely to be popular acceptable At all a possible compromise is an indexation system. You apply a waiting factor. You say I'm the British worker here in Ireland. I go along to get my child benefit. The Irish say where's the child? I say it's he she is back in London. They say well London very cheap to raise children in London We look at yes, we look at Some pre-agreed form of statistical analysis purchasing power GDP whatever you want and we apply a percentage to it That's possible There are all sorts of problems with it Complicated the numbers frankly are not enormous the administration of such a system would not be easy They would have to be constant reviews as the Relative GDP or wherever it is purchasing power parities changed But it could be done that would require legislation we could not saying we will we could propose it, but it wouldn't be ready In time I think before a referendum whenever a referendum took place. So We will find ways to do what The leaders agree that they want to do and our hope is that To a sufficient extent the British Prime Minister's hopes and requests are met enabling him to campaign for The United Kingdom's remaining in the European Union and we also hope but we have no control over that And I don't even have a vote because I've been away too long. We hope that the great British people will vote to stay in the European Union and that all the Predictable and unpredictable Consequences of the other option do not need to be faced. Thank you