Juncker’s visit is an Opportunity for Meaningful Business, not just Photo-Ops
*This article was first published in The Journal on Thursday 21 June 2018. Next week the European Commission (EC) President Jean Claude Juncker comes to Dublin. Juncker retires next year after 5 years at the helm on the EU and 18 years previous to that as Premier of Luxembourg. Among his engagements he will be meeting with An Taoiseach as well as receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Ireland. The temptation is for his visit to be used as a backslapping, swansong exercise. It should be about more than that. The visit gives us an opportunity for some meaningful engagement with the EU’s top dog. I’m glad that Juncker is also taking time to attend and engage with our National Parliament. Apart from providing some national democratic oversight on his term as President of the Union, members of the Oireachtas can ask him about how he feels his tenure has gone and quiz him on his plans for his final year in office. It’s fair to say that whoever led the