Economies in chaos - Crisis a real impetus for deep reform

ANY hopes Taoiseach Enda Kenny had of getting a cheaper IMF-EU rescue package at the EU summit in Brussels are gone for the moment at least.

There is very little he — or any of us — can do about it other than be patient and put a brave face on a very fraught situation. What was a great challenge has become something made even more onerous by uncertainty and the disappointment created when estimates may prove to be wildly optimistic.

If Portugal follows Greece and Ireland and requests an IMF-EU rescue package, any possibility of securing a lower interest rate slips further down an EU agenda being redefined, almost on an hourly basis, by uncertainty, national insolvency, looming elections and a banking crisis that may come to dominate the eurozone economies, relationships and politics for the foreseeable future.