Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis:

On the point the Senator made on risk reduction and risk sharing, we typically use the mechanism in the context of banking union. The idea is that we need to complete the banking union. There are discussions among member states. Some are putting more emphasis on risk-reduction measures and some are putting more emphasis on risk-sharing measures. To move forward, both need to move in parallel.

If the Senator is interested in banking union, we can go into it more deeply. I will explain the context of the sentence that the Senator quoted. As regards fiscal rules, we have the EU fiscal framework and certain associated enforcement mechanisms. Currently, we do not need to use any sanctions because we see that the fiscal circumstances are improving. Average budget deficit and debt levels are going down in both the EU and the euro area. Countries are correcting their excessive deficits. In the spring, we will assess France. It corrected its excessive deficit in 2017, as foreseen. Given that this is the case, we will have only one country left that is subject to an excessive deficit procedure, that being Spain. It will need to correct its excessive deficit this year.

As regards the preventive arm, we see that countries are moving towards their medium-term budgetary objectives. Some are at risk of deviation so we are working more in respect of those countries. There is one country against which we have launched a so-called significant deviation procedure, namely, Romania. It is the second fastest-growing European country, yet balances, in terms of budget deficit, around 3% of GDP and risks ending up being in excessive deficit. We forecast that Ireland will meet its medium-term budgetary objectives this year. We see that things are on track.