Government to push Germany on bank debt
Enda Kenny will travel to Berlin on Thursday for talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel. The meeting comes after Ms Merkel’s comments at a recent EU summit that seemed to dampen hopes of backdated bank debts being addressed in a deal. She later said Ireland was a “special case”.
European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton yesterday confirmed Mr Kenny would be pushing for commitment on such a deal.
“It’s very clear that the prospect of Ireland re-entering the markets fully and comprehensibly by the end of next year is very much linked with some form of relief in terms of debt sustainability, and that point has been made abundantly clear to all of our counterparts at European level, including Germany,” Ms Creighton told RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme.
“The Taoiseach will visit Berlin this week and will take that opportunity once again to make that point very clear to the chancellor and, indeed, to the whole of the German government.
“We don’t see the two as being in any way separate.”
Ms Creighton said there was a firm belief in the markets and in Ireland that there would be a deal on debt. This followed a commitment by member states in June, she said, but the process would be long and complex.
“We’ve had some very successful entry into the markets over the last couple of months and over the summer, as recently as last week,” she said.
“All of that success to date is that there is an expectation, there is a firm belief in the markets that there will be some relief on Ireland’s debt. It’s all interlinked.”
A spokesman for Mr Kenny said the Berlin talks were part of “ongoing engagement” with leaders ahead of Ireland’s EU presidency.
The meeting would also focus on relations between the two states and challenges facing the EU, he added.
The comments by Ms Creighton come ahead of a meeting today between Michael Noonan, the finance minister, and his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, in Dublin.
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin will also attend the talks. His spokeswoman said the meeting would include discussion on Ireland’s upcoming presidency of the EU.
Mr Noonan is expected to discuss the sustainability of Ireland’s bank debt and the possibility of using the EU’s permanent bailout fund to offload old bank debt.
It is expected that he will also point to recent remarks by Finnish prime minister Jyrki Katainen that backdated recapitalisations could be tried on a case by case basis.
The talks between the two finance ministers come on the back of Ireland completing its eighth review of its bailout programme last week.
Mr Noonan said the Government have also began discussing with the troika the prospect of Ireland exiting the bailout programme.
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