Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Having a eurozone budget was always a key ambition of European federalists, such as President Macron. The aim is to have many budgetary decisions transferred to Brussels eventually. The Minister said that if we had this kind of instrument, his policy would be to have it anchored in the general EU budget. Is that the position? I note from reports of the meeting that we are included with the Netherlands, Austria and Finland as countries that take a very critical view of the proposal. What size is envisaged? President Macron obviously wanted a percentage of all European GDP. This involves a massive fund. This does not seem likely to be the case. It seems that it will be between €15 billion and €18 billion. What role will this House have, even after the meeting this week? Will we have a chance to make a decision?

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