Taoiseach Enda Kenny today insisted the Government will maintain its fiscal targets next year ahead of a summit at which European leaders will discuss how the application of EU budget rules can be loosened.
Ahead of a ceremony this evening in Ypres to mark the centenary of the start of the first World War, Mr Kenny indicated support to the notion of budget “flexibility” to allow public investment to create job opportunities.
“Generally we favour greater opportunities for investment in Europe and as a consequence in our own country,” Mr Kenny said.
“Insofar as our own country is concerned and questions about whether this impacts on our budget for next year, we’ve been very clear about this. Our target is to have our deficit below 3 per cent by 2015. We will achieve that target.”
Mr Kenny was speaking in Kortrijk after pre-summit talks with centre-right leaders in the European People’s Party, whose candidate Jean-Claude Juncker is set to be voted in tomorrow as the new chief of the European Commission.
The Taoiseach had nothing to say about the nascent campaign by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore for Ireland’s seat on the commission, saying he would not comment on any personality in the the matter.
Mr Kenny told reporters that he spoke by phone last Saturday with Mr Juncker, former prime minister of Luxembourg, and resolved to speak with him again in relation to the allocation of a portfolio for the next Irish commissioner.
“I said that on his eleciton as president of the commission we would talk about commissionerships,” Mr Kenny said.
“Clearly there are a number that would be of interest to Ireland and I’ll speak to the president when he’s elected on that basis.”
With Italian premier Matteo Renzi and his allies pushing hard for a loosening of EU budget rules, Irish officials see potential for a modest easing of the Governmment’s fiscal path in the medium term.
In question is notion the notion of increasing investment in long-term energy projects and other capital intensive initiatives without increasing the budget deficit or breaching deficit limits.
Asked whether he would be supporting the push for flexibility, Mr Kenny replied “it’s flexibility about investment for job opportunities”.
Although he said it was a “dangerous time for Europe” in terms of Middle East geopolitics, he said the incoming commission would have an opportunity to act in a strong collegiate fashion.
“The political decisions that are made should not become drowned in bureauracy or red tape. This is an issue that leader after leader at the European Council have always raised,” he said.
“The important thing here is the management and leadership and the teamwork of the new Commission, because it’s a really critical time for the union with so many young people in particular unemployed.”
