Only way forward for EU may be to go back to the beginning

WE have been through another week of absurd politics in the European Union, and who knows what the leaders summit on Thursday and Friday will bring.

For a country whose economy and banks are in meltdown it was strange to see the antics in the Dáil when it emerged that the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party had decided there should be a vote on the contract with the EU-IMF for the bailout.

The Government blithely informed the IMF of the vote on Wednesday and pointed out that it would not be legally binding. But the IMF — apparently the only body taking this vote seriously — put off its approval of its €22.5 billion share of the loan until after this vote.