Rose Conway-Walsh: We Needed a Plan B for EU Presidency
Rose Conway-Walsh reflects on lessons from an EU presidency that was disrupted when airspace had to be closed, arguing for more detailed contingency planning for future presidencies. She discusses the immediate costs of the closure and explains why the Palestine-Israel relationship was not part of her defence-focused remarks.
Rose Conway-Walsh stresses that practice revealed the need for a more detailed plan B. While a contingency existed, the unexpected closure of airspace forced postponement of meetings in Nicosia for a month and highlighted gaps in preparedness during the run-up to the presidency.
The speaker points to tangible impacts: cancelled flights, reduced tourism and wider multiplier effects on the local economy. She notes committee members experienced the disruption first-hand, spending a day at Heathrow Airport and facing delays in travel plans.
On Middle East issues, Conway-Walsh explains she focused her intervention on military capabilities and defence. She clarifies that matters relating to the EU-Israel association discussions and Palestine fall under foreign affairs and the External Action Service, and were therefore outside the remit of the presidency statement she delivered.
Conway-Walsh calls for more specific contingency protocols that anticipate unforeseen crises such as regional conflicts. She emphasizes learning from the experience to reduce disruption and protect meeting schedules, aviation, and tourism in future EU presidencies.
Contingency planning and practice
Rose Conway-Walsh stresses that practice revealed the need for a more detailed plan B. While a contingency existed, the unexpected closure of airspace forced postponement of meetings in Nicosia for a month and highlighted gaps in preparedness during the run-up to the presidency.
Economic and logistical consequences
The speaker points to tangible impacts: cancelled flights, reduced tourism and wider multiplier effects on the local economy. She notes committee members experienced the disruption first-hand, spending a day at Heathrow Airport and facing delays in travel plans.
Foreign affairs and mandate limits
On Middle East issues, Conway-Walsh explains she focused her intervention on military capabilities and defence. She clarifies that matters relating to the EU-Israel association discussions and Palestine fall under foreign affairs and the External Action Service, and were therefore outside the remit of the presidency statement she delivered.
Lessons for future presidencies
Conway-Walsh calls for more specific contingency protocols that anticipate unforeseen crises such as regional conflicts. She emphasizes learning from the experience to reduce disruption and protect meeting schedules, aviation, and tourism in future EU presidencies.
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Transcript
Maybe I'll just ask you, if you were planning for the EU presidency now, say to happen in six months, what would you plan for differently than your planning was on the run-up to the presidency? What would you have done that you may did not? Yes, I think that what the practice showed that we should have had a plan B, a contingency plan. We did, but to a more detailed extent of that, we had to close the airspace. Okay, we did it. For one month, there were no meetings in Nicosia. We had to postpone all the meetings of that month. But I think if you were asking me now, we had it, but we had to have it in more detail, this contingency plan, that something happens that you are unaware of. The Iran war was not there when we were planning the presidency, and these contingency plans have to be more specific in case one has to close their space. Okay, so hopefully we will learn from that. And obviously, your meetings with the Irish government, they have gone through all of those things, all of the learnings from you hosting the presidency. I think it was a shock for everybody here, if I may interrupt you, that we had to close for one month the meetings. From my memory, maybe I'm wrong, I can't remember the last time that this happened. And have you put any cost on the actual cost of closing your aviation for the periods you had to close? I don't have the figures, but it was a big cost, yes. Also because a lot of airlines had to cancel their flights, tourism was lower and all the multiplier effects because of tourism. But I don't have a figure. And obviously, as a committee, we were on our way out to visit you and some of us got covered. So you actually experienced it first-hand? Yes, yes, we got... We spent a day at Heathrow Airport, and some of us came back again, so there will be another time. I just wanted to ask you, you haven't mentioned anywhere in your statement in relation to the EU-Israeli association agreement, or the discussions on that, or the relationship with – and I know you have a very positive relationship with Palestine, going back a number of years – for the Irish presidency, obviously, and for the programme that we are doing here for the inter-parliamentary conference that will form part of it, discussions on the Middle East. Was there any reason that, or was it a priority for yourself? No, it was... I didn't mention it today because I focus my intervention only on military capabilities and on defence. I consider to be the Palestine-Israeli section under foreign affairs, that's why I did not. Cyprus, as a member state, has reorganised the state of... One of the first countries that reorganised the state of Palestine, we have, in 2011. We have a Palestinian embassy from 2011 in Nicosia, same for us, and also there is a Ramallah office. We have also a close relationship with Israel, and it's known, but not to the detriment of our special relationship with the Palestinian people. So I did not mention it because it falls under the foreign affairs, and also under the Lisbon Treaty, foreign affairs is not under the presidency anymore, but it's under the External Action Service, so I don't have a mandate to say much about this.