President’s comments - Criticism of austerity is warranted

Despite the largely ceremonial nature of his office, President Michael D Higgins — intellectual, academic, poet and former politician — is not one for sitting on the fence, especially if he believes the Irish people and the citizens of other small nations are being subjected to policies of economic domination by major powers.

Effectively, by referring in a Financial Times interview to the EU’s “hegemonic” economic model, Mr Higgins has targeted a failed strategy of central control. It is not his first time voicing strong criticism of Europe. In a recent address to the European Parliament, he condemned the policy of austerity, a censure greeted by the positive applause of its members.

Not mincing his words, he has now returned to that theme, pointing out that the EU is going through a moral crisis as much as an economic one. Going even further, he underlined the need for a “radical rethink” of how EU leaders are handling the economic crisis, something that goes to the heart of the troubles confronting a club of nations where tens of millions of people are now unemployed.