Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Leandro and at the outset will pose a few questions on which he may be able to expand. In his useful contribution he mentioned a proposal for new competitiveness authorities. I note from the report that one key role would be to assess whether wages are evolving in line with productivity and to compare with developments in other euro area countries, which is fine, as well as in the main comparable trading partners. I take "comparable trading partners" to mean places like the United States, Asia and elsewhere. I have concerns this might mean such competitiveness authorities would come up with proposals to reduce rates perhaps, whereby wages would be forced down or recommendations made that wages be reduced because of factors such as what are termed "McJobs" in the United States and the race to the bottom in many areas. Can Mr. Leandro expand on the co-ordination that would happen to suggest wage levels across Europe? In addition, how might this be reflected in the annual growth survey and the country-specific recommendations? Were countries to fall foul of those, might they be subject to a corrective mechanism? I worry because Ireland has just set up a body called the Low Pay Commission to address the issue of low pay, to recommend whether the minimum wage should be increased and to consider proposals such as the living wage. It appears to me as though this new competitiveness authority would be in direct conflict with the commission. Consequently, I ask Mr. Leandro to expand on that point and perhaps settle my concerns and nerves in this regard.

Before inviting questions from my colleagues, my second and final question concerns the proposed euro area treasury. Mr. Leandro stated a genuine fiscal union will require more joint decision-making on fiscal policy. While he recognised many decisions will still be left to national governments, he noted some decisions would increasingly need to be made collectively, while ensuring democratic accountability and legitimacy. What type of decisions does Mr. Leandro think can be made collectively? Can he expand on the type of things one should expect to see done together, as opposed to done by national parliaments on their own? I now call on Deputy Durkan.