Tag Archives: EU

Meanwhile, UK MEP Sharon Bowles (above)  has said that Ireland has got a ‘raw deal’ in its bailout, compared to the agreement struck in Europe last night on the Greek debt crisis.
European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee chair said “morally” something had to be done for Ireland.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said the most obvious way was to do a deal on the promissory note, the means by which Anglo Irish Bank was funded.
…UCD Professor of Economics Karl Whelan, said the deal for Greece was in “stark contrast” to the “pretty unseemly haste” with which Ireland is being forced to repay the promissory note for Anglo Irish Bank.
Professor Whelan said Greece is becoming a model of how the EU is becoming more flexible in how it deals with debt of unsustainable levels.

 

Eurozone, IMF Reach Deal To Reduce Greek Debt (RTE)

 

Nein.

12.26 Germany appears to be refuting everything today.
German news agency DPA is reporting that German government
spokesperson Steffen Seibert has said Ireland won’t enjoy exceptions
to the European Stability Mechanism procedure, but said special
circumstances are taken into account.
He added Ireland does not enjoy “special status” in the support of
its banks.
Earlier today (see 08.59) Irish papers were reporting that Merkel had
told Ireland’s Taoiseach Enda Kenny that the country’s bank debt is a
“special case”.

EU Debt Crisis Live (Telegraph)

Earlier: The Smell Of Bullshit Victory In The Morning

Thanks Lars Biscuits

Just not yet.

The European Commission has cut its growth forecasts for the Irish economy. The commission revised down its 2013 growth forecast for Ireland from 1.9% to 1.4%, with this year’s forecast also marginally down from 0.5% to 0.4%.

At least we have exports:

On the back of an increasingly challenging global outlook, the commission has also revised down 2013 export growth for Ireland from 4.25 to 3.5%.

Which will lead to further emigration easing the unem…

The projected unemployment rate has been revised upwards from a previous forecast of 13.7% in 2013 to 14.4% in 2014. The commission only expects a gradual fall in the unemployment rate to 13% by 2015.

Ah.

EU Growth Forecasts For Ireland (John Walsh, Irish Examiner

Brian Lenihan at a pre-budget press conference on November 12, 2010.

So many questions…

Karl Whelan writes:

Did the ECB communicate with Brian Lenihan on November 12, 2010? If so, why was this communication not referred to in response to the [FOI] request by Mr.[Gavin] Sheridan [of TheStory.ie] request?

Did the ECB threaten to withdraw funding from Irish banks unless Ireland entered an EU-IMF program, either in a letter dated November 12 or in meetings the following weekend?

What are the contents of the November 19 letter and why is this letter considered so sensitive given that it was clear to all after [Central Bank] Governor [Patrick] Honohan’s remarks on November 18 that a bailout deal was being concluded?

 

Anyone?

 

The ECB’s Secret Letter To Ireland: Some Questions (Karl Whelan, Forbes)

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

Enda Kenny with Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister, center, and Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minister, during the European Leaders summit in Brussels.

According to a statement issued at 4am, eurozone leaders pledged to “examine the situation of the Irish financial sector with the view of further improving the sustainability of the well-performing adjustment programme.”

Following intensive negotiations, first at official level and then at heads of government level, it was agreed that the EU’s permanent bailout mechanism could be used to directly recapitalise eurozone banks.

This had been a key demand of the Spanish and other governments, including Ireland, in the run up to this week’s crisis summit. Speaking as he left the European Council building, Mr Kenny described the new deal as a seismic shift in EU policy, and said it would allow Ireland to re-engineer its overall debt level, which would reduce the burden on Irish taxpayers.

Ireland Secures A Deal in Principle To Alleviate The Country’s Debt Burden (RTE)

EU Leaders Ease Debt-Crisis Rules on Spain in Merkel Retreat (Bloomberg)

(Jock Fistick/Bloomberg)

By Gavan Titley

Because the young Europeans must now step up to the plate.

Vote yes to supplement Lumumba jokes with feta gags.

To pretend that public expenditure is the root problem. To stop bombs going off in Dublin. To scupper the annoying remnants of democracy on the elastic voodoo of ‘the structural deficit.’

Vote yes if you liked Kenny doing Sarkozy impressions in Athlone. Vote yes for internships.

Vote yes because the treaty is a cushion that will under no circumstances be used to smother you* (*terms and conditions may apply).

Vote yes for that second bailout that we categorically didn’t need.

Vote yes for access to a fund that we can access if we can’t access the bond markets, but for which we will have to borrow billions from the bond markets to pay in our share.

Vote yes to rearrange deckchairs on the iceberg. Vote yes to support Labour’s bid for caviar on the Dail menu.

Yes to a treaty that the Bundestag rejected and the French have declared impossible in its current form.

Vote yes because The Irish Times does fret dreadfully about popular sovereignty. Vote yes because the Shinners will vote no and that 80s vibe still feels nice and comfortable.

Vote yes because Noonan thinks that Ireland being the only country in which this could pass is something to boast about at a business breakfast.

Yes to magical growth plans lashed up on Powerpoint.

Vote yes to pretend the capitalist crisis will go away.

 

Gavan Titley is lecturer in media Studies at NUI Maynooth and vice-chair of the ‘Diaspora, Migration and Media’ section of the European Communication Research Association