The Irish government asks the EU to take over some public debt in the banking sector by the ESM. After Spain got a special programme, prospects for such a proposal may not be too bad.

Securing a deal on Ireland’s €64bn bank debt is crucial to exiting the EU/IMF bailout programme. There are two strands to the negotiations. There are roughly €34bn in promissory notes covering losses in Anglo and Irish Nationwide. Under this set up, the Government is scheduled to pay €3.1bn every March until 2030. It is in talks to roll these promissory notes into a long-dated bond and is also trying to get relief on the €30bn used to bail out the pillar banks. Ireland needs support from the EU powerbrokers. But there is an election in Germany this year, where there is growing opposition to fiscal transfers. The Irish Examiner asks a range of German journalists and economists what they think of Ireland’s requests for bank debt relief

The debt crisis in some member states of the European Monetary Union shows once more how closely related bank crises and sovereign debt crises are.

Every nation has its own obsessions, creeds, and taboos. Germany’s taboo is criticising the European project. Still being haunted by the excesses of extreme nationalism, Germans are obsessed by the idea of a united Europe.