Ms Emer Costello, MEP:

The issue around the perceived democratic deficit is hugely important. We must do a lot of work on that, both in terms of strengthening the roles of national parliaments on European affairs but also in acknowledging the role of the European Parliament. For example, one of the issues I raised when we met with various representatives of the troika was the fact that it must be democratically accountable, which is not the case. The European Parliament has now passed a resolution to the effect that the Commission representative on the troika should report back to the European Parliament. What we need to address the democratic deficit is, in part, accountability and we need to be able to reinforce the democratic structures. The European Parliament is the only one of the European institutions that is directly elected. It has a major role to play in the post-Lisbon situation in the development of the MFF and the EU budget, which is of great importance. Those are the areas we must address. I would like to see the European Parliament use the opportunity to address and push for a more social Europe.