Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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41. To ask the Minister for Finance if he shares the views recently expressed by the Dutch Minister for Finance and chairman of the eurozone Finance Ministers, Mr. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, that European Union Finance Ministers are concerned that the European Commission is not applying budget laws in the same way to large and small countries and is undermining confidence in the rules; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17523/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of Mr. Dijsselbloem's views on the matter.  However, this topic was not in the agenda of the last Eurogroup meeting.

I believe all Member States should be treated equally concerning the application of EU budget laws, regardless of whether they are small or large countries.

However, I also understand that some degree of flexibility should be allowed in certain circumstances, where this is appropriate, within the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.

For instance, the deadline for Ireland to correct its excessive deficit were extended on two occasions (2009 and 2010) due to unexpected adverse economic events with major unfavourable consequences for government finances. Ireland's Excessive Deficit has been corrected in a durable manner and the country is now subject to the preventive arm of the SGP.