Germany demands - The noose is tightening

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel is proving, as if needed to be proven, that there is no such thing as a free lunch but let us all fervently hope that the bill will not include another referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday Taoiseach Brian Cowen argued that a referendum would not be necessary unless there was a significant transfer of powers involved in establishing a permanent EU rescue fund. Again, let us hope he is right.

German support for bailouts of tottering eurozone economies was never likely to be open-ended and was certain to come with some sort of a price. The German government faces considerable domestic unease on the matter so concessions were unavoidable.