Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

EU Directorate-General Economic and Financial Affairs: Discussion

5:00 pm

Mr. Carlos Martínez Mongay:

Member states' debt developments depend on annual budgetary policies. In Spain, for example, GDP is growing quickly, but its deficit is high and, therefore, debt is not being reduced. This is not because of whether countries have windfalls. There are a number of reasons. There is a new Government in Spain and it is still reverting the situation. It is in the process of consolidating public finances. I would not like to refer to a specific country, but what happens depends on the extent to which the deficit trajectory is downward and the denominator is rising.