Seanad debates
Wednesday, 26 November 2003
Book of Estimates 2004: Statements.
This is a sort of power struggle. Naturally, the EU Commission wants to centralise issues as much as possible but most member states want to resist this. There is no evidence that either the French or Germans want to kick over the traces. They want to get their economies in better order and reform them as soon as possible. In the very short term – one is talking about the very short term when one speaks of budgets for one or two years – growth and stability are not always totally compatible objectives. Their argument is that if they go for growth first, they will get stability afterwards. I would not like to see this feed into a paranoia about big countries versus small countries. It was a pragmatic decision and I suspect we went along with it for the reasons I have stated. Of course, one must take care it does not have a negative effect on confidence and, therefore, on interest rates and the costs we all must pay.
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