Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Day and Ms Nolan.

I have three questions. Ms Day's chart on the European semester or European economic timetable is very helpful. "Semester" is a new word that we will have to add to our vocabulary. The process seems to focus very much on draft budgets. The final part is the budget. Is the process out of sync with our system in Ireland? In other countries such as Sweden the budget is the final point of discussion. This poses a question for our committee structure in the Oireachtas. The committees abroad scrutinise the draft measures as part of their European scrutiny process, whereas in Ireland the budget is the starting point. Then, when it is almost too late, we engage our committees. Do we need to change? I am reasonably sure the Government is open to it.

With regard to the country-specific recommendations, in the past the Commission and the European Union – I am thinking of the Stability and Growth Pact – did not really have the necessary power to face down the bigger countries such as Germany and France. To what extent are they now in a better position? Particularly given some of the political commentary from the United Kingdom, perhaps difficulties of the French President and the fact that the Germans are still holding the purse strings of Europe, will the Commission apply the same rules and criteria to the bigger countries? If so, is it now in a better position to achieve what it wants?

This week a number of us were at the European Parliamentary Week events and we came back last night on the same aeroplane. We hear a lot about democratic legitimacy and jobs. We have an elected national parliament and the elected European Parliament. The Commission clearly has a difficult job to do. Ms Day states there will be consequences if its recommendations are not implemented. Does she believe the Commission has sufficient democratic legitimacy? It is the European Central Bank and the Commission that people talk about when they talk about a lack of democratic accountability. How could it be improved if it needs to be improved at all? How can the Commission's role within the democratic system be better explained to ordinary Europeans?