Mr. John McCarthy:

I can confirm that discussions had begun well in advance of the Commission coming out with its country specific recommendations, CSRs. We have been discussing some of the issues with the Commission for some time. The discussions mainly revolve around the treatment of one-offs within the expenditure benchmark. There has been a change in the way those are treated, with one-offs now essentially excluded. There is a strong economic logic for that in the same way that they are excluded from the structural balance. However, we have consistently argued, and I believe the law is on our side, that the rules cannot be changed retrospectively. There have been a number of one-offs, for instance, that have allowed us to calculate fiscal space and maybe increase it a little, the best example being the treatment of-----