‘Absolutely crazy’ that Ireland has no bank debt deal
Hannes Swoboda, who leads the Social and Democrats Group, said that because Ireland had been a “model country” in efforts to solve the eurozone crisis, it should have the “privilege” of support from other countries.
A recent statement by the German, Dutch, and Finnish finance ministers saying legacy bank debt could not be dealt with by ESM permanent rescue fund was “very unfair”, he said.
“This way to deal with economic issues according to an abstract rule book is absolutely crazy. You have to give countries who do a good job the benefit of supporting them in completing their task.”
He was in Dublin yesterday for a meeting of leading social democrats from across Europe, hosted by Labour.
British shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the eurozone’s problems were collective, and therefore the solution must be collective.
He said some countries did not fully understand the implications of joining a single currency and the responsibilities it entailed towards countries in difficulty: “You can’t have a single currency when members of it are single currency deniers.”
Eamon Gilmore told the conference that the left in Europe must show it has “credible answers” to deal with the euro crisis.
“Despite the perception that is sometimes created and is out there, commitment to fiscal discipline is not a centre right idea. If you look across Europe, it is countries with strong social democratic traditions that have some of the strongest records on fiscal discipline.”
The Swedish shadow finance minister Magdalena Andersson said that alth-ough there were “faults in the construction of the euro and the eurozone” she had thought Sweden should join — but was not so sure now.
