Tag Archives: Angela Merkel

00134217“Ireland has made good progress, this progress was not made in Germany it was made in Ireland on the basis of the Irish understanding that things had gone wrong in the past few years.

“I’m grateful to my colleague Enda Kenny for implementing the reforms so passionately. Ireland is one of those examples where it can be shown that things are improving.

“Ireland has remarkably lower yields [on its bonds]. I want to express my sincere respect for what Ireland has achieved over the past couple of years. Those developments are good and important for Ireland.”

 

Angela Merkel today.

 

Merkel says policy toward Ireland will not change after election win (RTE)

(Photocall Ireland)

 

This just in.

“I have nothing but contempt for this. The tone seems to be similar across all banks.
It is for us a huge challenge to convince people who get up every day and every day do their work and always pay their taxes, do everything, even show solidarity with other people who are weaker. All of this is destroyed by that and so I have nothing but contempt for that.
For people who go to work every day and earn their money, it is very, very difficult to understand, if at all.”
“It is a real damage to democracy…for everything we work for.”

Angela Merkel

They may be on to us.

Merkel zu irischen Bankern: “Dafür habe ich nur Verachtung (Der Spiegel)

Independent MEP Marian Harkin said that “Angela Merkel, having embraced Enda Kenny at the EU summit on Friday, subsequently showed this to be a ‘Judas Kiss’ when she ruled out back-dated recapitalisation of Eurozone banks”.

Speaking from the European Parliament, Harkin argued that this is “an extraordinary setback and a real kick in the teeth to our leaders who have been struggling earnestly to achieve a fair deal for Ireland”.

She added that “our banking debt of € 64 Billion – which Ireland put in place to save German, French and other European banks, as well as our own – cannot be left on the shoulders of Irish taxpayers. It is unjust, unfair and it makes the possibility of recovery virtually impossible”.


Harkin denounces Merkel’s “Judas Kiss” (Westmeath Independent)

(dpa)

Angela Merkel has been forced to postpone German ratification of the eurozone’s “fiskalpakt” until after an Irish referendum on May 31 by a gathering domestic and European backlash against austerity.

 

Now this is getting interesting.

Eurozone Crisis: Angela Merkel Forced To Postpone ‘Fiskalpakt’ Ratification (Telegraph)

From The New York Times:

From trading floors to polling stations to the streets of cities across Europe, the message appears increasingly to be that countries cannot cut their way to fiscal health. They need growth, too.

Taking advantage of growing voter outrage, fringe parties like the Greek ultranationalist group Golden Dawn and France’s far-right National Front, which won nearly one in five votes Sunday, are gaining strength, evoking comparisons to the Weimar era, which ushered the Nazi Party into power.

“The formula is not working, and everyone is now talking about whether austerity is the only solution,” said Jordi Vaquer i Fanés, a political scientist and director of the Barcelona Center for International Affairs in Spain. “Does this mean that  [Angela] Merkel has lost completely? No. But it does mean that the very nature of the debate about the euro-zone crisis is changing.”

Call for Growth Rises to Counter German Push for Austerity (New York Times)

Europe’s Elites Feel The Backlash (Ian Traynor, Guardian)