Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will take the questions in reverse order. The threshold for the youth guarantee is 25% unemployment in the youth category, so it is only for countries above that level. We are on that level so we are included. We are getting support under that and it was deliberately targeted at the countries that had the biggest problem. We are not the worst. There are some chronic cases, such as Greece and Spain which have really serious problems with youth unemployment, but we clearly have a problem in that area.

The State has been quite successful - I suppose we are old hands at it - in harvesting returns from instruments. On FP7, which is the big one that we deal with, we box above our weight. We were the best in terms of SMEs securing draw-down. Ireland was top of the league in getting draw-down for SMEs from FP7, the research budget, but it is a challenge and we are setting a more ambitious target. We got approximately €600 million under the last one and we are seeking €1.25 billion this time.

With regard to the first question, the Deputy answered it himself to a degree within the question. There is always a conflict between the desire to harmonise and the desire to leave countries with a diversity of tools to respond as appropriate to their circumstances. By and large, Europe has sought to apply the principle of subsidiarity. In other words it only seeks to harmonise where it is necessary to the fair operation of the European market. It does not seek to go below that and it leaves diverse arrangements. Many of the product markets are being harmonised to avoid non-tariff barriers being used. They have all been swept away. However, countries continue to have different regimes in respect of many other areas. It started from the Common Market so product and service markets have been the focus of attention. In terms of labour markets, the attention has been to ensure free flow and that people can exercise their rights under the European Union to move from place to place.

The member states have policed it. Many member states do not want to see encroachment on what they see as their rights, so they defend their position. In areas such as tax there is a veto so each member state has a guarantee of freedom of operation.