It won’t be the PIIGS who ruin the EU

IT almost made me burn with rage when I heard French President Sarkozy’s griping about our “low rate” of corporation tax.

With his usual penchant for what could be interpreted as veiled threats, he mentioned that Ireland couldn’t keep coming for EU financial assistance while having a tax rate half that of France or other EU countries. Let’s be clear about a few things — the financial bailout to Ireland is not just about helping our banks, it’s also about helping the rest of the eurozone maintain its stability.

Were the countries so disparagingly referred to in some circles as PIIGS to collapse, it would bode very ill indeed for the whole EU federal project so beloved of yet another Frenchman of small stature and grand notions.