EU EMBASSIES:THE PLAN to open up a network of EU embassies would not diminish Ireland's international standing, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said yesterday.
He said the EU already had an embassy in Washington that worked successfully alongside the Irish Embassy, which had "a renowned reputation".
The EU embassy, he said, headed by former taoiseach John Bruton, was able to represent the EU's interests in wider talks with the White House and Capitol Hill.
The appointment of an EU high representative for common foreign and security policy, essentially an EU foreign minister, would improve the EU's ability to deal with major states, he said.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, the role of the union's foreign policy supremo, currently Javier Solana, would be enhanced. The incumbent would be given a seat on the European Commission on top of his existing role in the Council of Ministers.
Mr Martin said that currently, the world's major powers could find themselves dealing with "16 different EU presidencies" over the course of years.
He rejected charges that the Government's opposition to an EU agency workers' directive had caused major problems in its relationship with unions.
"We made a contribution to that. We didn't oppose it. We brought the heads of a Bill to Government," said Mr Martin, who until recently served in Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
He said the Government had believed some elements of the directive - detailing the length of time before an agency worker would be covered by other labour-law protections - created "certain issues that would impact on employment. That is legitimate".
