Ms Danielle Auroi:

I will speak French as, unfortunately, my English is not good enough to speak to the committee in that language. I thank the committee for the time it will spend with us and in view of the fact that there is a time limit, I will not detail our committee at the French National Assembly. I will just say that Mr. Piron and I are members of the committee, and Mr. Piron is rapporteur for two important draft directives.

Our committee and this committee spend much time showing the importance of European issues at national level. We want to give ideas when it comes to Europe and we want to show our citizens how important is Europe. It is important for us to meet the committee so that we can exchange ideas, and some of us have already met during the COSAC meeting and we will meet again in a month, towards the end of the EU Presidency. Sharing ideas between parliamentarians is very different to parliamentarians simply listening to the Executive.

There are three concerns I would like to share with the committee and which are important. First, we are talking about deepening democracy and the participation of national parliaments in the context of budget integration. Over the last month and a half since the events in Nicosia, it has been decided that during the European semester, there will be a legislative time, meaning that twice a year national parliaments and the European Parliament will have the opportunity to meet at the same time as the Commission is meeting to discuss budgetary matters, as per article 13 of the treaty. France proposed this possibility and is very happy it has been adopted.

I would like to have the committee's opinion on the first time this will happen in the autumn, under the Lithuanian Presidency. I do not believe we have a date yet but it will be some time in the autumn. I ask this question because I must present a report on the democratic deepening of the EU. It is an easy topic, as the members can imagine, and it is interesting for all of us. I would like the committee's opinion on the doubt that our citizens feel regarding the efficiency of Europe in making citizens happy. Are Irish citizens more confident that the EU can do so than are their French counterparts? One year before the European Parliament elections, there is a great fear in France and in other countries - I was in Poland last week - that nationalistic movements are increasing and there is more euro-scepticism and not enough "euro-conviction". It is especially important as we are in the European year of citizenship.

The second concern is the deepening of the economic and monetary union within the multi-annual financial framework. We know we must have more ambition when it comes to the deepening of the economic and monetary union, even if we already know that the banking union is taking shape.

I congratulate the Irish Presidency because it has managed to reach some conclusions. We need the single supervisory mechanism as it is very important for European stability. We will have the European stability mechanism which is as essential as a resolution mechanism. It is very important to have a strong fight against tax fraud in all European countries. I have seen some hesitation, even though Vienna has recently changed tack. Tax harmonisation, I repeat, will only happen if we there is an efficient fight against tax fraud and evasion. It is a challenge for the multiannual financial framework and it is essential that there is a social reference. Ireland has shown good example with its plan to support young unemployed people. Thankfully, we have received an envelope of €6 billion, to that end, for accompanying measures. Unfortunately, €6 billion is not a lot for 27 member states. It is important that national measures accompany European projects.

With regard to the second point, I will share some of our concerns. We believe that the budget is not ambitious enough. The Commission proposed the budget but the Council reduced it and I think that the European Parliament is right to block it at present. Dialogue must take place between the national parliaments and the European Parliament in order to strengthen the budget for the benefit of our citizens. Under the Irish Presidency we will see, in a few weeks, if the European Parliament decides to block everything. That would prove a serious difficulty compared with what happened last year. The European Parliament does not want the same as a national assembly. Perhaps there will be a compromise. To that end, there is a mid-term review clause that the budget can be blocked for seven years, especially as it is such a small budget.

I shall now talk about a very sensitive topic for us, the EU's resources. The EU budget depends on what every member state contributes which means money is taken direct from the pockets of our citizens. The financial transaction tax has been approved by 11 member states so can go ahead. Therefore, the EU budget will be taken direct from financial flows and not from the pockets of our citizens.

My third point is on energy transition. We must fight against climate change and make it a European topic. We must defend the idea and make it a new European period. We started with the European community of coal and steel. The second European period was the Common Agricultural Policy. The third European period could be a European energy and environment policy. We have a sponsor called Mr. Jacques Delors. It is very useful to have him sponsor our proposal to have a carbon tax at EU borders. An advantage of the carbon tax would be for the EU to have its own resources. It would balance out the negative affects on the import market which is a hot topic at present. The carbon tax has two further advantages. It would encourage growth and employment. We all know that a new source of employment is in green jobs such as in energy efficiency and renewable energies. The jobs would have an important impact on employment, social aspects and the environment.

It is important for us to fight against climate change. As members will know, today we were welcomed with beautiful sunshine but when we left Paris it was only 11°C.