Cowen denies EU held rescue talks

CLAIMS that eurozone finance ministers had discussed a rescue plan for failing euro-area member states have been strongly denied by Taoiseach Brian Cowen and senior leaders at the EU economic summit in Brussels.

Finance spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, Otto Bernhardt, told Reuters that the European Central Bank would be ready to step in within 24 hours but that there would be a cost for such a rescue, and in Ireland’s case it would be an increase in corporate tax rates.

Mr Cowen insisted that EU leaders had not discussed the question of a eurozone bailout, while Foreign Minister Micheál Martin confirmed that the finance ministers had not discussed the issue either.