Labour pressure on ECB ‘could collapse talks on promissory notes’

Labour risks derailing talks on a better promissory note deal by exerting too much political pressure on the ECB, according to sources in the Department of Finance.

It follows weekend reports that Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told European leaders that failure to reach a deal to reduce the €30bn burden could risk collapsing the Coalition.

His comments were reported to have been made at a private meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel and others at an event in Chile last week, at which he publicly declared that failure to reach a deal would be “catastrophic”.