On New Year's Day Ireland takes over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union. It's the seventh time Ireland has been in charge of a semester in which its main function is to negotiate with the member states, the European Commission and the European parliament to try to find common ground on issues that can then be agreed in the European Council--the summit meetings of heads of state and government during that semester. Ireland takes over from Cyprus and it inherits several major items to be resolved, the most important of which is the European budgets for the next seven years--discussions on which remain stalled. Also, the European Union now has to flesh out the details of the agreement on the single banking supervisor that was struck in the last summit meeting of the year in Brussels. It is in this context, and only days after Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, set out his country's objectives for the next six months, that Frank Smith talks to this week's guest on "Face to Face," the Irish Ambassador in Madrid, Justin Harman (28/12/12).
