Mr. José Leandro:

Exactly, because the growth is higher than what was projected.

Public sector debt in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy is slowly coming down. A big issue that we often tend to overlook is private sector debt which remains very high, including in this country. It is an issue that needs to be tackled, probably more forcefully, but the report does not go into these issues. The report does not say how we should deal with public or private debt but simply offers a roadmap. Of course, such debt is a fundamental issue in the background.

I understood that one of the questions asked was what are the obstacles to more competitiveness, investment and growth. From my perspective, there are issues both on the supply side and on the demand side which need to be tackled at the same time. We have cyclical factors that lead to lower investment, lower consumption and, therefore, higher unemployment on the cyclical side but there are also structural impediments to higher investment and employment. We need to act on both aspects through structural reforms. We need to address the more structural elements of these obstacles while, on the demand side, we need to use the flexibility within our rules to facilitate and better manage the cyclical aspects of unemployment and investment. The Commission has decided to launch an investment programme of €315 billion which reflects the approach that one needs to act on both sides - the demand side and the structural side.

There was also a question from Deputy Kyne on how to better involve the national parliaments in the Europe semester process, particularly in terms of the country-specific recommendations. This is a key issue in the report. First, in our view the parliaments should be much more involved and consulted in the design of the national reform programmes before they are submitted to the European Commission. Second, member states should use the ability that is already there to call on Commission officials and commissioners to explain why they recommend these audit measures, including when the Commission gives an opinion on draft budgetary plans. This aspect is already provided in the so-called two-pack legislation but it is not systemic or systematically used.

There was a question on sovereignty. It is a complicated issue because it is often presented as a zero-sum game. In fact, in many areas the pooling of sovereignty is a way of regaining sovereignty in a world that is becoming increasingly globalised. Including within the European Union, where we have more and more interdependence, sovereignty becomes a very relative concept. One way of regaining sovereignty is by pooling it, including on issues of fiscal policy. For example, we have already pooled sovereignty in terms of monetary policy but we have not done so with the fiscal and financial sides which led to the mess that we all know about. Very often the pooling of sovereignty is a way of regaining sovereignty. When we put in place a single supervisory or resolution mechanism for the banks it was a way of gaining sovereignty over the financial sector.

The division between the ins and the outs is an issue about which the Commission is very sensitive. The report focuses on proposals to strengthen the euro area. Many of these issues have implications for the non-euro area member states, including for the banking union. For example, when we talk about a deposit insurance scheme or the capital markets union, this cannot be decided by the 19 euro area member states alone; it has to be decided by 28 member states. Any issue that touches upon the functioning of the Single Market has to be decided by the 28 member states and cannot be decided by just 19 member states. On the other hand, having a common currency among 19 member states creates a level of interdependence that does not exist with the non-euro area member states. There are issues on which decisions have to be taken among the 19 member states because it is key for the function of the common currency. This is the way we, in the Commission, see these issues. Maybe I shall stop there but I am happy to continue. I hope I have answered all of the questions.