Top Eurocrat will give secret speech in capital tonight
CONTENTS of a speech to an invited audience in Dublin of top political, business and trade union leaders tonight has been ruled off limits to the public, after the European Union’s secretarygeneral insisted the reporting restriction be put in place.
European Commission secretary-general Martin Selmayr is due to deliver the speech to members of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) at Dublin’s Gresham Hotel.
In a change to the original billing, journalists were told the speech and a question and answer session with the audience will be held under Chatham House rules, a convention that forbids media reporting directly what is said – on pain of exclusion from future events.
Under Chatham House rules information can be reported but not the source. It is not unusual at events such as seminars or panel discussions to facilitate plain speaking and an exchange of views about a contentions issue. But it is very unusual to deliver a speech under the secrecy rules.
The large invited audience means that in practice the contents will be known within elite circles in Dublin, but not shared with the public. The European Commission confirmed Mr Selmayr himself made the decision to restrict reporting.
He is in Dublin in his official capacity, where he will also meet with John Callinan, an adviser to the Taoiseach and deliver a second speech to a German-Irish business association.
Tonight’s speech comes at critical time for Ireland in the Brexit negotiations.
Mr Selmayr has been dubbed the ‘Monster of the Berlaymont’ – the Commission headquarters building, because of a fearsome reputation as a Machiavellian power broker.
His appointment to the most senior post at the Commission below commissioner by his long-time boss JeanClaude Juncker was highly controversial. EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said President Juncker risked undermining public trust by failing to follow procedures when he made the appointment. Critics named the affair ‘Selmayrgate’.