Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Chairman. The work done by the committee in the run-up to the COSAC meeting was reflected in the submissions from other countries also. Everybody seemed to identify the same obstacles and the necessary remediation. The questions we are asking are how are we to go about doing this and what should we prioritise. If the right decisions are taken initially, we will see a quicker and more dramatic response. For example, in European banking recently interest rates have been extraordinarily low. This should provide a great opportunity to investors to invest in job creation projects, but they are slow to do so because of the risk factors already referred to. To what extent have the risk factors been addressed in a meaningful way? Is the proposal likely to activate people?

Another issue that arises in Mr. O'Riordan's submission is the question of ownership. The committee also addressed the issue of the ownership of the European project and of everything that is European.

It was interesting that at least one if not two countries at the COSAC meeting referred to the weakness of the eurozone. There was a clear indication on their part that they did not see themselves as taking ownership of anything that was involved in the eurozone - in fact, in the European project, because it is not possible to talk about the eurozone in isolation from the entire euro project. If we do, we become isolationists ourselves. I do not want to go into the precise details of that, but I ask the witnesses the extent to which they think the euroscepticism that is rampant across the European Union at the present time is being addressed or is likely to be addressed in the context of what we are discussing now.

Without a specific project targeting this particular area, we will always have criticism and it is likely to grow. There was a reference earlier to the fact that currently there is criticism and dissident, and diffident, opinion throughout Europe for a variety of reasons, mainly political. However, the political reasons should not impede the progress of the 500 million people in the European Union. To what extent do the witnesses think all the European member states, euro and non-euro, will contribute to the objective of ensuring that structural fiscal and monetary policies are combined in an integrated and growth-friendly way? If there is no cohesion, we cannot proceed in any direction.

I have already referred to the issue of taking ownership. That is hugely important. Even in this country we regularly speak about "them" - the Europeans - and "us". We are Europeans, as is every other person throughout the European Union. The problem is that we do not seem to be able to get around the mental block of taking ownership of that project and saying "we Europeans," as opposed to "them and us".

The next point to which I wish to refer concerns structural reforms, the deepening of the single market as the overriding priority and the identification of the barriers to this. The identification of barriers is of huge importance. If the barriers are not identified properly, there can be no resolution. We can talk around it and we can talk by it, but we will not actually address the subject matter.

The last point I will make concerns national parliaments - as the Chairman knows, we have discussed this at length - and the degree to which their influence will be reflected in the way the European project is progressed. The immediate question concerns the extent to which those whose national parliaments are not pro-European are going to influence the European project. Are they likely to become a barrier to the progression of the project we are now discussing? Are they likely to become an obstacle and as a result impede the progress that we all deserve?

I congratulate the Chairman and the committee for clearly identifying the headline issues in the subject matter for discussion at the COSAC conference. All other countries grudgingly came on board and agreed that these are the issues that are of fundamental importance to the European project.