Mr. Vasileios Madouros:

We conduct and publish a lot of analysis on many of the issues raised by Senator Higgins and engage with our colleagues in the Department on these things, even if they are not framed, as Mr. Makhlouf said, in the context of the specific net spending rule in the discussion of the Commission. The Senator mentioned preventative investment for climate. We had an article in our June quarterly bulletin that spoke to the additional investment needed to reach our net-zero target relative to what is already planned. That is an input to that kind of discussion.

The Senator also raised demographics. In the housing analysis we did recently, we included different scenarios around potential migration patterns which could help inform judgments on this. We do analysis on the supply side of the economy now and into the future, which again is a key element of thinking about a spending rule because we typically think of the potential growth of the economy plus 2% inflation as one way of anchoring it. It might not all be in a single place, but we do a lot of individual pieces and publish them. As part of the working relationship with the Department, we will be discussing a lot of different assumptions about these points and issues.