European Union leaders gather in Brussels for the second day of the critical EU Summit, as discussions focus on security, defence, economic challenges, and key geopolitical issues facing Europe. The high-stakes meeting brings together the bloc’s leaders amid major global developments and growing international attention.
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What Micheál Martin said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Micheál Martin, Ireland's Taoiseach, discussed the upcoming EU presidency, focusing on the multi-annual budget, Middle East, Ukraine, and UK-EU relations. He emphasized the need for progress on the EU budget for the next seven years, noting challenges from competing demands, including security and defense, while highlighting CAP and cohesion funding as key pillars. On the Middle East, he called for clear EU signals against illegal settlements in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Regarding Ukraine, he praised President Zelensky's presentation, expressed strong support for Ukraine, and noted no signs Russia wants to end the war, urging a moral obligation on President Putin to agree to a ceasefire. He supported opening channels with the Kremlin, trusting Antonio Costa's role. He also congratulated Andy on his by-election victory and looked forward to the UK-EU summit, mentioning potential progress on SPS, ETS, and electricity market agreements.
Key takeaways
He called for Europe to send a clear signal against illegal settlements in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Martin said there is no sign Russia wants to end the war in Ukraine and urged a moral obligation on Putin to agree to a ceasefire.
He supported opening diplomatic channels with the Kremlin, trusting Antonio Costa's assurance that Europe is not mediating.
Martin looked forward to the UK-EU summit, expecting progress on SPS, ETS, and electricity market agreements.
2:35For the next six months, do you anticipate strong pressure from particularly the Irish farming sector to deliver a strong budget?
4:33Parliament additional levy, commission is talking about the company levy, like are there any red lines for Ireland given the number of tech companies?
5:27What's your opinion on him being the person to make that case, and then also when should talks start?
7:09Was it a mistake for the council to open up a diplomatic back channel with the Kremlin?
Good morning. Looking forward to today's discussions on the annual budget or the multi-annual budget for the European Union. We will obviously be in listening mode as we come into the presidency to see the response to the Cypriot non-paper and see where we take it from there, and we'll be listening keenly to the different contributions.
And as I said yesterday, I think it's imperative that we continue to make progress on agreeing a budget for the next seven years for Europe, because it will allow for planning and proper development of the Union. Also, there will be a discussion on the Middle East at lunchtime, and we are essentially looking for proposals from the Commission in respect of the illegal settlements.
I think Europe has to send a very clear signal that what has been happening and what continues to happen is unacceptable in Gaza and in the West Bank in particular, and also in Lebanon. Yesterday we had a good discussion on the competitiveness agenda and particularly the Europe One Market Roadmap. Good discussions on that. There was a sense that people were up for accelerating certain aspects of that, particularly in terms of SMEs and the European proposal, and in terms of the savings and investment union.
So we'll take those files and we'll do everything we can to try and progress them as quickly as we can over the next six months. Very good discussion last evening as well on Ukraine. President Zelensky really presented a heartfelt contribution that I felt was one of the more significant presentations he has made to an EU Council and that I have attended.
And obviously there was strong support around the table for Ukraine, and also a desire to see an end to this war. But there is no sense or no sign from Russia that it wants to end the war. And as I have said repeatedly, there is too much conflict in the world, there's too much war in the world, and we need really a concentrated, deliberate effort to stop these wars.
That stuff from almost is well offered. It is an important subject across many, many countries, and in fact in my tour around various capitals it was very clear that quite a number of member states are anxious to improve somewhat on the draft budget proposals around agriculture, but it will be very challenging because there are a lot of competing demands. And the bottom line is that there are some who believe the budget is too high as it is.
Notwithstanding the separate reducing it to some degree in its negotiating box, but and then there are other pressures in other parts of the budget. So it's going to be very, very difficult to resolve that fundamental question as to the size of the budget and is it enough to meet all the competing demands. And there are additional demands that have come on the table in contrast perhaps to the previous budget, and mainly security and defense in that respect.
And we know on the eastern flank that there is significant pressure because of an existential fear about the Russian threat and then the consequent necessity to invest in defense and capability there, which has put huge pressure on budgets across the Baltic, some of the countries. So that's a factor, but clearly the two fundamental pillars of previous budgets, CAP and cohesion funding, are still very much on the mind of many member states, and that's something I picked up on meeting the various prime ministers over the last while.
Just on the own resources, because do you have any red lines on that? Parliament additional levy, commission is talking about the company levy, like are there any red lines for Ireland given the number of tech companies?
5 more exchanges in this transcript
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Martin, M. (2026, June 19). Micheál Martin Addresses Key Global Issues in Latest Statement | AC1W [Interview transcript]. News Central. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2956958/
MLA
Micheál Martin. "Micheál Martin Addresses Key Global Issues in Latest Statement | AC1W." News Central, 19 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2956958/.
BibTeX
@misc{martin2026_2956958,
author = {Micheál Martin},
title = {Micheál Martin Addresses Key Global Issues in Latest Statement | AC1W},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, News Central. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {jun},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2956958/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
