Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013
285. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if, following the move across Europe to bring budgets into a semester process, the date of budget 2014; and the way the budget is announced will change. [5854/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2011, EU countries launched the European Semester cycle as agreed at the European Council in June 2010. The aim of the Semester is that EU-level discussions on fiscal policy, macroeconomic imbalances, financial sector issues, and growth-enhancing structural reforms will now always take place before governments draw up their draft budgets and submit them to national parliamentary debate in the second half of the year. Additionally, the so-called "six-pack" of economic governance legislative measures came into effect in 2011 in order to enhance economic and budgetary coordination across the EU. The position on the date of budgets raised by the Deputy is as set out in section 6.4 of the Budgetary Reform Chapter of the Medium-Term Fiscal Statement published last November.
One of a further two draft economic and budgetary regulations, known as the "two-pack", nearing finalisation in Europe, will introduce a common budgetary timeline for all euro area Member States. When this regulation is adopted and in force, all euro area Member States will be required to publish their draft budget for central government and the main parameters of all other General Government sub-sectors no later than 15 October each year. The common budgetary timeline also foresees that the final budget should be adopted or fixed upon annually by 31 December.
Accordingly, much of our existing budgetary process, which is currently completed in the first week of December, will have to be finalised earlier in the year.
As the two-pack has not yet been adopted, this requirement has not yet come into force but I can assure the Deputy that we will take the necessary actions to ensure that Ireland will comply with the new requirements once they have been agreed.
