Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

We have always taken our mandate very seriously. It is a very important and precious thing. It is very important that institutions such as IFAC do not overstep the mark. I do not think there has been any change. Certainly there has been no change in policy with regard to this from our side. To be clear, I said at the beginning that we have not made a formal assessment of these things because, as Deputy Doherty said, we have not been asked to do it. It is not part of our mandate. Obviously it is very close to many areas we work in, including on the EU rules.

In terms of the change in legislation I was not particularly advocating for it. It was just an implication. The existing legislation, which also set up IFAC, is very much rooted in the previous EU reforms. There are things that logically would need to change. Potentially that is an opportunity to look at other aspects also.

With regard to the European changes proposed to our role as an independent fiscal institution, as I said there is significant overlap with what we currently do. Some of it is a very natural extension. For example, the Commission wants a more long-term framework, going from endorsing economic forecasts a few years ahead to a longer horizon. We have seen the Government go to a longer horizon for the stability programme. It is a very natural extension. Extending this to budgetary projections is a policy choice but it has a logic. The danger is that in some countries a government may choose to come up with funny budgetary projections that suit it but do not reflect the reality. It is an important safeguard but, of course, it is a policy choice as to whether it should be done.