Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I wish to ask two questions of the Taoiseach. The first is with regard to Europe 2020 which has a set of aims and projects to be achieved. If these are not to be aspirational, how can they be made consistent with the Stability and Growth Pact and what is to be achieved within that? With regard to the emphasis on a return to growth, all of the European evidence shows there is a dangerous lag between the technical return to growth and any reduction in unemployment. Given the rise in unemployment, which creates a new circumstance that should be taken into context if interpreting the Stability and Growth Pact, how, then, is Europe 2020 to become meaningful when it is contradicted by the requirement of the pact?

The Taoiseach referred to the UN millennium development goals. My second question is whether the European Union's common position is one that will be based on additionality for where the goals are being missed and flexibility between expenditure between the goals where specific countries are involved.

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