The former Taoiseach Mr John Bruton has called for national parliaments to be involved in the process of sanctioning countries that breach the EU's budget rules.
Mr Bruton, who has been nominated as the EU's next ambassador to Washington, told the Institute for European Affairs that the European Commission's lack of democratic legitimacy formed the most serious obstacle to implementing the Stability and Growth Pact.
"Political opinion in member states is not, in its heart, yet ready to accept that the European Commission would determine the overall numbers of the annual budget of individual member-states. Given that the Commission is doing no more than giving effect to Treaty obligations that the states themselves readily entered into, one could say that public opinion is being unreasonable. But, in a democracy, public opinion unfortunately has the right to be unreasonable," he said.
Mr Bruton said that in view of the reluctance of member-states to give the Commission more legitimacy by, for example, allowing voters to elect the Commission president directly, the best way to strengthen the pact's implementation would be to involve national parliaments in drawing up the recommendations for each country.
"This approach would mean that the Commission would be enabled to co-opt opposition parties and backbenchers in national parliaments in support of its efforts to ensure that the disciplines of the pact are respected. If, for example, an opposition party finance spokesperson was privy, at a very early stage, to the emerging concerns in the Commission about the viability of the government's budget figures, this would serve as a very effective discipline on the government. It would mean that the government would have to produce genuine figures because the opposition would be able to cite the authority of the Commission for accusations that it might make if the figures were not genuine," he said.
Mr Bruton suggested that his proposal should be considered as part of the reform of the pact that is now under way. The Commission wants to broaden the definition of "exceptional circumstances" under which countries may exceed the budget deficit limit and to give governments more time to bring their deficits down.
"A requirement to make available to the finance committees of member states, either publicly or confidentially, drafts of Commission advice to member governments, would go a long way towards harnessing the democratic legitimacy of member-state parliaments in support of the Stability and Growth Pact," Mr Bruton said.
