It’s Germany who should be ashamed, not Ireland

GERMANY’S European Commissioner, (Günther Oettinger), has lent his voice to demands that the national flags of all bailed-out member states be flown at half-mast at EU buildings as a sign of the shame.

Could I remind him that Germany’s financial strength comes from its exports. It’s their European neighbours who have been buying their BMWs, which pay the workers who make them.

They, in turn, saved their money with German banks and expected a good interest on their savings. To give them their return, their German banks lent the money with interest to Irish banks.

That’s how Fritz and Heidi got the interest on their savings. Now the Greek and Irish Banks can’t pay it back and under pressure, our government insists that the ordinary citizen must do so.

But to do this, they need to borrow even more money from those self-same German banks at an even higher interest rate to pay Fritz and Heidi even more interest on their savings. And Oettinger thinks that we are the ones who should be ashamed?

John Mallon

Mayfield

Cork