Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have referred before to the respect he is held in as a foremost economist. I would like to hear him comment now on whether, as an economist, he supports balanced budgets.

The Council meeting was divided into two sections. The first part was about the jobs agenda, youth unemployment, SMEs and the potential of the Single Market. There were contributions from most member states around the table on these central issues. I am not sure whether Deputy Ross was here yesterday but I want him to understand this will be a central feature of every agenda for every Council meeting from now on. European politics should be about the growth of economies and the creation of jobs and job opportunities.

In respect of Ireland having a higher than average rate of unemployment of young people, it is one of the countries that is required to have an action plan put in place by the end of April to focus on this matter. That is why the Government has already done serious work through the programme for action on job and business opportunities led by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, and the activation changes that will be introduced by the Minister for Social Protection in providing opportunities for people to move off the live register through retraining, upskilling or a change in career direction. Yesterday, 800 new jobs were announced, as the Deputy knows.

It is obvious that we have had a continuing crisis for two and a half years. One point brought to light at Monday's meeting was that serious moneys in EU funds, billions in many cases, were allocated to member states but were not drawn down. Individual member states did not put forward projects that could have met demand for infrastructure construction and created thousands of jobs. Ireland, I am glad to say, is one of the few countries that has almost exhausted its allocation of Structural Funds. By and large, good use was made of these in providing infrastructure.

There are 23 million SMEs across the European Union; coincidentally, there are 23 million people unemployed. In theory, if one could relate one to the other, one would solve the problem. Theories, however, do not always work in reality. Jobs, growth and employment opportunities are central to the European Council's agenda from now on. In June, there will be a report on best practice for SMEs across the Union. Issues such as the competitiveness league and the increased opportunities provided when a country raises it competitiveness have been raised. Ireland, I am glad to say, has made significant improvements in this respect in the recent past.

Job prospects are challenging. However, the political agreement now arrived at will allow the Union to review the extent of the firewall in March. As Ms Christine Lagarde said, if the firewall is big enough, people will not want to climb it in the first place.

Matters have moved on. There has been intensive work with Greece which expects to have its PSI, private sector involvement, matter sorted out in the next fortnight. There is no longer talk about the destruction of the euro or catastrophic defaults all over the place. The politics of the Council have focused on the conclusion of the text agreed.

In the beginning, the German Chancellor, Ms Merkel, wanted a full European treaty. That is not possible because of the withdrawal of Britain and now, because, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic will not sign one because of constitutional problems there. Of the 27 member states, 25 have signed up. This is a significant advance which allows political leaders to focus on the jobs and growth agenda in their individual countries. We will do that here through the jobs action plan and activation measures, as well as a whole range of measures that will be included in the forthcoming Finance Bill.

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