Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis:

On the first question, the fiscal rules existed in Europe before the crisis. The Stability and Growth pact set a 3% limit on government deficit and a 60% limit on debt. It all existed before the crisis.

What was done after the crisis is that, first, a European semester was introduced as an annual cycle of fiscal and economic policy co-ordination, so it was recognised that a more systematic overview of the member states' fiscal and macroeconomic policies is needed. A macroeconomic imbalances procedure was introduced because it was recognised that countries not only face fiscal problems, but also macroeconomic problems and there was more emphasis on prevention such as the preventative arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, the setting of medium-term budgetary objectives and aiming for a balanced budget in the economic cycle. Those were the things that were introduced.

As regards Ireland, we are fully aware that many of the Irish fiscal problems stem from the collapse of the banking system and an unprecedented scale of bailouts which Ireland undertook. Nevertheless, that did not remove the question that if those decisions were taken, what are the sources of financing of the debt and deficit. This question, nevertheless, was still there and those bailouts, which we saw in a number of countries was the reason for introducing the banking union. As members know, the basic principle of the banking union right now is not for a bailout but a bail-in, meaning that first the shareholders and creditors of a bank take the losses and the taxpayer is not first in line to pay for the mistakes of the banking sector. It was also a lesson learned from the crisis and that is an underlying principle of the banking union and underlying reason for strengthening bank supervision and also a regulatory framework for introducing a single rulebook and a single supervisory mechanism.

On decision-making processes, once again, all the decision-making processes as they are enshrined in a treaty or EU legislation are decision-making processes decided by EU member states and on different procedures it can vary from unanimity to qualified majority, to simple majority, to reverse qualified majority but once again those are decisions taken by member states in line with democratic procedures