Mr. Tony Gallagher:

The six pack comprises reforms that were identified as necessary when the Stability and Growth Pact did not work. As a result, President Van Rompuy was given the job to set up a task force to look at the weaknesses of economic governance to correct these. The main ideas behind them are to strengthen budgetary discipline in each member state to see that their budgetary frameworks are sound, to bring in a new framework to prevent macroeconomic imbalances, to toughen the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact and to introduce surveillance on macroeconomic imbalances. These have been brought into the EU semester to try to make it a seamless process every year and to ensure there is discipline in the budgets and economic policies of member states.