Mr. Kevin Cardiff:

Oh yes, I mean, look, remember ten years ago ... more than ten years ago when the ECB was set up. There was an early ... a legal case quite early on about whether they were ... they could be brought to the ECJ, and they fought that very hard. They ... this is ... they have an absolute belief in their legal position as being independent. And it's not purely self-serving. Remember, some of these people, in some of these countries, don't have a tradition of independent central banking or of a ... or, don't have a tradition of a lack of political interference in central banking. Some of these countries are ... have done enormous things to make themselves democracies in a very short period of time, from a ... you know, a transition from an out and out dictatorship, where nothing was independent. So there's a reality to their desire to be independent but they try to protect that, sometimes in ways that we mightn't all like. And then they have a legal problem, frankly, I imagine, coming and being, you know, directed to attend the committee, because they are ... you know, they have these various protocols and so forth. Just as I would if I were representing the European Court of Auditors here.

I would probably come, I would probably have the same discussion but I would not allow you to direct me because that would be contrary to the protocols.