Active multilateralism, and a determination fully to engage in the leadership of international organisations from the EU to the UN, where Ireland has just won a seat on the Security Council, are core expressions of national foreign policy. The Donohoe nomination comes as news emerges of the appointment of Irish woman Emer Cooke to head the European Medecines Agency, one of the most powerful regulatory agencies in the world, and days after Irish trade commissioner Phil Hogan announced a pitch for the vacancy as head of the World Trade Organisation, a position once held by Peter Sutherland. The eurogroup presidency, a two-and-a-half year term to succeed Portugal’s Mário Centeno, will be elected on July 9th. The informal group of 19 euro states faces tough challenges as economies reel from the coronavirus crisis and member states argue over how to shape a massive €540 billion economic safety net agreed by them. Politics are likely to play a part in the decision, with the socialists keen to keep the post and Calviño’s candidacy viewed with suspicion among fiscal conservatives in northern Europe.

Source: The Irish Times June 29, 2020 13:01 UTC