‘Absolutely crazy’ that Ireland has no bank debt deal

Attempts by three powerful EU finance ministers to call a halt to a deal on Irish bank debt were “absolutely crazy” according to the president of the Labour Party’s group in the European Parliament.

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.