What are the
main issues structuring Ireland’s relation to the EU? How has the Irish debate
on Europe evolved over the course of the four decades since the small island
joined the EEC, on 1st January 1973? What are the roots of Ireland’s specific stance on such
questions as military neutrality, abortion, corporate taxation, or the balance
of power between small and large Member States? How do Dublin’s special
relations with the United States and Britain play out in the Irish positioning
on European matters? To what extent does the current debt crisis
reconfigure Irish perceptions of Europe? And in what ways is this likely to influence the conduct
of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU?

To answer
these questions, Aziliz Gouez, Associate Fellow at Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute has gathered the views of
four prominent actors in Ireland’s European life: Pat Cox (former President of
the European Parliament), Lucinda Creighton (Minister for European Affairs), Micheál Martin (leader of Fianna Fáil) and Peter
Sutherland (Chairman of Goldman Sachs International). This publication also includes a paper by Tony Brown
(IIEA), analysing the 2012 Irish referendum on the Stability Treaty.

Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute invites you to the exceptional conference of Mr Michael D. Higgins, Président of Ireland: “European Year of Citizens : What kind of Citizenship? What kind of Europe?”, in Paris on 18 February.