Ms Brenda McVeigh:

We will get to the list of 11 presently. Deputy McDonnell asked about taking a bet on whether it is going forward. I am not overly keen on doing that at this point. I am unsure whether the committee is aware of it, but Commissioner Šemeta stated this morning that as far as he is concerned it will go ahead. He believes that a compromise text is necessary because he acknowledges the legal challenge, although he maintains that the Commission does not agree with it - I am referring to the legal opinion not the legal challenge. He maintains it will go forward. If we listen to Commissioner Šemeta's remarks we have to accept that it will not go forward in its current format. Therefore, it would be difficult to take a bet on what will go forward. We can say definitively that it is not going forward as it is. How or if it will go forward is a different question and that will really depend on the compromise text, which we have not seen yet. I presume at this point it has not been drafted. All member states have a right to see it and to determine whether they are interested in joining. We are assuming it simply has not been produced yet.

The 11 countries that are in are Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.