TD ‘very concerned’ at effect of ESM treaty

Independent TD Thomas Pringle has told the High Court he is very concerned the European Stability Mechanism treaty will permit an unregulated and uncontrolled new institution to bail out member states when existing EU treaties prohibit any such bailout.

Mr Pringle also said he feared that if the ESM is called on to bailout Spain and Italy, Ireland could “very quickly” be called on to provide the full €11.14bn amount of its required contribution to the ESM. He did not know where Ireland would get those funds — it might have to borrow them from the ESM itself and then pay them back, he told Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday. Ireland had to raise €1.3bn for the ESM within the next 18 months, he noted.

He was also concerned the ESM would interfere with EU economic policy, place a huge burden on member states, and encroach on their ability to govern their own economic affairs. The manner in which the ESM could call for capital placed a huge burden on Ireland to raise that capital and infringed its right to decide policy, he said.