Vice President Teresa Ribera of the European Commission and Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus made recent visits to UCD to discuss the future of the EU, neutrality, and diplomacy. Judith Bellmunt Gras reports.
On Monday 26th January 2026, UCD hosted a speech and Q&A session with Vice President Teresa Ribera of the European Commission from 5pm-6pm. Just a couple of days later, Thursday the 29th, the Politics and International Relations Society hosted a talk by the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus, H.E. Mr Louis Telemachou. Cyprus holds the current Presidency of the Council of the EU, before it is passed to Ireland this July 2026. What did these high officials have to say about the future of the EU?
Teresa Ribera started her speech by discussing the importance of defending our values in today’s world. She mentioned how “we've had lots of talk about the American dream” adding “the real dream is the European dream”. Across her talk she emphasised the importance of social values, the rule of law, trade, cooperation and making societies closer to each other.
Ribera claimed that we currently find ourselves in a “very delicate situation”. In her view “what we are facing right now is the consequence of the fear of so many changes in such a short period of time”. She said the EU has become a target from inside and outside, adding how “it’s going to be a complicated year and decade for the EU”.
Ribera discussed increasing populism, declining cooperation, scapegoating, and frustration at the slow pathway of multilateralism in the EU. She also discussed the risk of things that have already been achieved being undermined, especially in regards to social policies, solidarity and peace.
She discussed how whereas in the past the EU dominated the world economy, it has now become the US, whom we have become dependent on.
Ambassador Telemachou said such dependency is the EU's responsibility. He said we cannot blame anyone but ourselves for it, arguing Europe has not been investing in its security like it should have. He argues that we have had a wake up call, and stressed how “autonomy, autonomy, autonomy” is one of the main priorities of the Cyprus presidency.
Ribera argued that if we leave aside finance, digital and industry, the EU is more productive, efficient and better prepared than America. Nevertheless, she asked the question: how can we be more productive?
She discussed how the EU needs to increase shared balance of productivity and shared markets as well as continue deepening into the single market. She also discussed the importance of continuing to work on Europe’s circular and social economies.
Both Ribera and Telemachou called for more money to be spent on defence and technology, and stressed the need to be more competitive. Ribera discussed how “we need to be prepared and ready because we don't know what might happen”, adding this is a new and unexpected agenda, and “not what we had planned to do”.
Telemachou added how this is a “difficult issue for Ireland, and we need to discuss that”, referring to the Irish triple-lock policy, which ensures neutrality.
Being asked about the risks of rearmament in the EU and the concerns of some member states such as Italy and Spain on money being lost for welfare, Telemachou responded “do we have a choice?”, as well as how it is “not either or”.
At the same time, Telemachou discussed the central role of diplomacy, saying that “if diplomacy fails there is war”, which he added we see today in Europe.
Having worked 5 years as an ambassador to Ukraine, he said “Ukraine is an example of where diplomacy failed and we got war”, with diplomacy being replaced by “troops on the ground” to solve the problem.
Being asked about what could end and solve the conflict, he said there needed to be a ceasefire and leaders needed to sit down and discuss how to negotiate. He said the issue is not only agreeing in negotiations but agreeing on how to negotiate.
Regarding the popular belief that we shouldn’t be thinking about green policies right now, Ribera said “in the contrary.” She discussed how she was the minister of energy and environment when Russia invaded Ukraine, and witnessed first-hand how markets went crazy because of the price of gas.
She said how we should not depend on Russia for gas, but focus on finding renewable sources and other supplies of natural gas.
Despite the risks of dependency, Ribera remarked that we should not isolate ourselves from the outside world, arguing how important multilateralism is.
Similarly, Telemachou’s view is that it is not an option to not have relations with countries whose values are different, arguing “that’s what diplomacy is about”, when asked about the risk of depending on China instead of the US now. He mentioned the gulf countries as another example of countries we do not share values entirely but still hold relations.
Posing the question of whether it is going to be easy to stand up and maintain our values, Ribera answered “of course not”, but “we can do it”. During her speech she reiterated the importance of soft power multiple times, arguing “soft power is power if it's properly used”.
On another note, before Teresa Ribera’s speech, Orla Feely, President of UCD, gave a welcome speech, in which she discussed how although Ireland might be at the periphery of Europe, it is much at the heart of the EU, especially with Ireland’s presidency of the EU approaching. She discussed how UCD is preparing very actively for it, looking forward to hosting a variety of events on campus.