Mr. Juan Menéndez-Valdés:

The people who organise are volunteering. The players would be the participants and would come under the other question. This is where Ireland rates higher than average, so it is a sports country.

On the three things the EU could do, that is a difficult question. At European level, if we have to build on success, some of the members' comments remind me of the successful programmes. ERASMUS, for example, has been a great experience. It is being expanded now and its direction is about bringing the citizens to Europe, and if a person is more exposed to other cultures, this will also enrich one's own culture. It will give a broader sense of belonging to the same continent. We have done some research on convergence and divergence in Europe. The history of Europe, of my country and of Ireland are good examples of countries that have been catching up - and surpassing in the case of Ireland - many of the best performers in many areas. It is good to be a member of the club because we are going to grow together and prove to have social progress together. Let us consider the experience of Greece recently. Ireland went through a bailout but is in a very good position now; Greece is not. This is explained in some of the results there. The Greeks see, rightly or wrongly, that the European Union has given poverty to them. I am not saying that everything Greece has done is wonderful, but that is the situation.

EU policies provide this convergence such that no one is left behind and people catch up. There are very good examples of this. Poland is a great example. It did not have a crisis at all. It has been growing constantly since it joined the European Union.

As for not being complacent, I will mix some of the evidence and some of my own perceptions as a foreigner living in Ireland. The health system is certainly an issue to look at. I will make a comment that is not in the presentation. Again, perhaps it is a totally stupid comment. It is a general, broader perception. This country is doing very well but is relying a lot on the huge foreign investment of a number of big companies, which for a small country is making a huge difference. I think any other country in the EU would envy Ireland for doing this, but it can also create some undesired effects, such as higher prices for the whole population and, perhaps, higher salaries. The underlying competitiveness of the traditionally Irish business and so on can be affected by this. Sometimes we talk a lot about wages. I am again getting more into personal opinion here, but I think the problem in Ireland is not wages, which I do not know much about, but prices. I am taking this from the cost of some pills in a pharmacy rather than any other example, such as having a coffee, with the exception of goods that are the same price all over the world, such as a car or a computer. Again, this is not scientifically sound, so I probably should not have said it.