# EU proposals re budgetary discipline



## txirimiri (10 Jun 2010)

I've seen very little comment in the Irish media about what I consider the radical and far reaching proposals that are coming out of the Task Force, chaired by EU President Van Rompuy (Brian Lenihan in Ireland's representative on same) in relation to improving budgetary discipline of EU Member States. According to the press release issued by Van Rompuy's office after the Task Force meeting this week (keep in mind that it was only set up in March and that this was only its second meeting), there was more or less consensus amongst all the 27 member states regarding the idea of a 'European budgetary semester' which would mean that all Member States would have to submit a draft budget in the spring of the previous year to the Commission and to the other Member States for their approval (before the details of the budget were discussed by the national parliament in the autumn) and there was significant agreement in relation to the idea of imposing sanctions on Member States that breached the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact (including, for instance, witholding structural funds and CAP payments from MS who breached the 3% deficit rule!)

Am I the only person that finds it odd that there has been very little media debate about this? I don't even think that the opposition parties have properly picked up on it and looked for a debate in the Dáil (other than the silly populist Fine Gael rumpus a few weeks ago)


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## Purple (11 Jun 2010)

What are the opposition going to say?
It's not unreasonable that when 27 club members agree on something (the Stability and Growth Pact) that they agree to show each other their homework to make sure nobody is cheating.


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## txirimiri (13 Jun 2010)

I agree with you.

That doesn't mean there shouldn't be a proper debate, both in the Dail and in the media. The proposals are varied and far reaching. There are elements of all the proposals that are perhaps inevitable but others that need to be teased out. We should be in a position as a country to be proactively considering how our interests are affected and contributing actively to the debate as to how some of the proposals might be amended, added to, implemented. 

Otherwise, in a few months, the news story will be "'Brussels' has not approved Ireland's budget' and there will be the predictable uninformed outroar from the medja about loss of national sovereignty et al and the government will continually go on conveniently blaming 'Brussels' for everything, as though we were not round the table from the very beginning


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