Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I will address my comments entirely to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I take my fair share of the blame in this. The final point in the Commission paper, which is a fine paper and well worth reading, is that in order to keep long-term interests rates and boost growth and jobs, the euro needs to consolidate. That is a view which many people have expressed over the period since the euro came into operation.

On foot of these findings the Commission makes modest suggestions. The first is that every effort should be made to reach the 3% deficit and the 60% debt set out in the Maastricht criteria. They have been in place since the early 1990s and it is unforgivable that there has not been more focus on them across the entire European Union. Second, it argues that greater emphasis should be placed on the correction and avoidance of microeconomic imbalances in the euro area. That would involve recommendations on, inter alia, competition policy, wage setting behaviour and private sector credit growth. Those are issues where, if we are all honest with ourselves, there has been slippage over the years.

The third point, which seems to have cause most allergy in this House, is the European semester. It will start in 2011 in order that budgetary and structural policies are peer reviewed at an early stage of the year, probably in April or May. They will be discussed in the euro group after implementation and not before, which is currently the case. This could mean that the recommendation of the revision of budgetary plans will be made. There is a lot of difference between that and suggesting that one is surrendering sovereignty in some way. The final point is something on which we can all agree, namely, that a crisis resolution method for the euro area is needed on a standing basis. It would involve strict conditionality for assistance provided by way of above-average interest rates, which makes sense.

The Commission's document is the beginning and not the end. It is a discussion document, not a final document and it has been and will be discussed. There is no doubt in the order of things it will be changed when the euro group, ECOFIN Ministers and Heads of State meet.

I was stunned by the reaction from Fine Gael last week because it was so much part and parcel-----

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