Deadline extension a cause for celebration

Good news is rare these days — so rare that when it comes around, it deserves to be celebrated.

It is far from the answer to Ireland’s or Portugal’s fiscal difficulties, nevertheless the seven-year extension of the deadline to repay bailout loans is a welcome, albeit small, reprieve for two countries strangled by austerity.

It would be premature to shed sackcloth and ashes, but this deal will help us to exit in better shape from the bailout programme at the end of the year. Clinched by the finance ministers of Europe, it is expected to receive the blessing of the parliaments next week.