Ms Catherine Day:

I thank the members again for a very interesting second round of questions. I will try to be more systematic in answering. On the lessons learned, yes, we are learning all the time. First, we have learned that we need more contact throughout the year with member states. We have a lot of contact but we have these three fixed times at key moments in the cycle when we come together with the member states. To invest more in the partnership side of it is important. We have also learned that the Commission needs to have much more country-specific knowledge than was traditionally the case. All departments are now doing that, so that not only are we very good on issues of policy relating to transport or agriculture but we know in detail what it means in country X, Y or Z and we can put the geographic and thematic knowledge together so that we really have a good picture and we understand the specifics for each country.

A third lesson learned is that we have got to strike the right balance, being clear enough that a member state understands what we are trying to get at while not being overly prescriptive, particularly in how they should deliver the result. We should not just say that a country should reform its pension system but say that it needs to align life expectancy with retirement ages, and then member states will find different ways of doing it. Every year we try to be better at that.