Delivery must follow grudging yes vote

The margin of Thursday’s endorsement of the EU fiscal treaty may have been greater than anticipated.

Nevertheless, it would be foolish to pretend that this was not a reluctant, grudging acceptance and that it, and the low voter turnout, underlined a dangerous loss of faith in our political system and the democratic deficit nibbling at the authenticity of the European project.

Though the vote settled a domestic issue, it hardly made waves across the EU. In a Reuters round-up of the euro crisis yesterday our decision, so vehemently fought over here, barely merited half a sentence in a 1,000-word report.

That report focussed on two warnings, one from the European Central Bank and the other from the European Commission.

The ECB reiterated the need for a joint guarantee for bank deposits, arguing that Europe needed new ways to prevent bank runs as investors seek calmer waters to avoid the risks brought about by our debt crisis. ECB president Mario Draghi encouraged European leaders to clarify their vision for the single currency quickly, warning the European Parliament that the bank could not fill the policy vacuum.

Even more starkly, the European Commission’s Olli Rehn warned that the eurozone could disintegrate without stronger crisis-fighting mechanisms and tough fiscal discipline.

Cutting to the core of the issue, another ECB executive board member, Joerg Asmussen, said in Frankfurt that the 25 or so most important banks in the eurozone should be supervised by a supranational watchdog rather than domestic regulators. It just may be that we are at the point in the crisis that governments, even those so impressed by the idea of a self-regulating market, see no option but to unite to rein in the worst excesses of the banks. Even at this late stage, that would be a victory of sorts.

Another ECB policymaker, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco, was even more direct, saying political inertia and bad economic decisions had put “the entire European edifice” at risk and “only a clear path to political union could save the euro”. It seems Europe’s mandarins are as frustrated with the slow and ineffective political response to the crisis as everyone else.

These may be the issues on the grand stage, but now that the referendum is out of the way Enda Kenny’s Government faces difficult domestic issues that were pushed aside in recent weeks. The backlog is substantial and how these issues are dealt with will go some way to restoring faith in politics or continuing the dangerous and growing disconnect between citizen and parliament.

Water and household charges — especially the householders who have ignored the new law — septic tanks, health, education and public sector reform all make for challenging times. Even the sideshow on turf cutting, where a minority seem determined to defy the law no matter what the environmental or financial consequences are for the rest of us, will have to be finalised. Resolving the mortgage crisis and shifting the burden of private bank debt from the taxpayer remain close to the top of an agenda focussed on job creation and economic rejuvenation.

Unless significant progress is made on all of these issues, the ones over which this Government has real control, it is very hard to see the mandate given so enthusiastically in Feb 2011, and less so on Thursday, being renewed.