Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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The committee has debated many of these points in the past. I share many of the delegates' concerns. I was interested to hear Mr. Tutty's point on the proposed European fiscal board. He would be concerned if it were to become involved in assessing the position of each individual country as this would be duplicating the work of the national councils. That is true to a degree but such a board could be helpful. I will give two examples of where this could be the case. First, if there is a difference of opinion between the national fiscal advisory board and the government of a country, as with the interpretation of the structural deficit, it would be useful to have a European fiscal board that would act as an outside expert. Second, not every national fiscal advisory board across Europe is independent of its government. Hungary is a case in point. Having an independent body with a Europe-wide remit could give added moral authority that would help to put pressure on national governments to keep their budgets in check. I regard the proposed board as another piece of ammunition that we could have to ensure countries stay on the straight and narrow when setting their fiscal goals.

Mr. Tutty stated that the interaction of national parliaments with the new European semester project can be a little superficial at times. It is a developing process. It is a new phenomenon for us and we have tried to take on board its requirements as much as possible.

However, all of us here are improving year on year and that is happening across Europe in respect of how the semester is implemented. I am interested in the witnesses' specific ideas as to what we, as a national parliament, could do better to help the semester develop. I will leave those two questions there.