Times have grown tougher in the international political arena, and every day makes us realise that global events don’t slow down for our sake. It’s important that we draw the right conclusions from this. The answer to precarious certainties must not be to batten down the hatches and hope for smoother seas ahead. The answer is to refocus on our strengths. The foundation of our prosperity, the guarantor of our freedom and the central key to our security is indeed Europe. Europe must be strengthened and modernised, given greater ability to act and made more competitive.

I am convinced, especially since crisis mode is increasingly becoming the new normal, that key structural reforms must no longer be delayed. Every month, and every week, counts.

Ireland is therefore assuming the EU Council Presidency in July at a decisive juncture for our continent. Following the elections in Hungary, we now have an unusually good window of opportunity that we want to use, and that we must use, to further and sustainably strengthen Europe.

We want to finish negotiations on an EU multiannual financial framework that gives us the leeway and flexibility we need to better respond to crises. In Brussels, we want to set in motion vital reforms in the sphere of competition, so that we can better use the economic potential of our European Union. We want to strengthen the institutions by overcoming the manoeuvring of recent years by individual countries to block processes out of a lack of solidarity. And we want to secure peace in Europe by maintaining our decisive support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s illegal war of aggression.

On all of these matters, we are very much aligned with Ireland. In Dublin, we will therefore discuss how Germany can support the Irish EU Council Presidency, so that Europe can take decisive steps forward over the coming weeks and months.