Main focus of Monday, November 22, 2010

Bail-out for Ireland saves the euro

Ireland has become the first member of the eurozone to apply for financial assistance worth billions from the EU and the IMF. Europe's finance ministers agreed the rescue package on Sunday evening. While it has come rather late, the package is central to shoring up the euro, the press believes.

New elections to end Ireland's disgrace

Ireland's request for credit worth billions is a disgrace to the government and is losing it popular credibility, The Irish Times believes and therefore calls for new elections: "The failure of the Taoiseach and his Ministers to tell the public what was happening did not arise from any deliberate attempt to mislead; it was that they just didn't seem to appreciate what was happening around them. When it finally dawned on them, they engaged in nitpicking distinctions between talks involving officials and those involving political contact. In the bubble world in which Ministers and senior civil servants operate, this may even have made sense but the Government ended up looking foolish and incompetent in front of the world. That is something from which it will never recover. One way or another, the Coalition's days are numbered. It simply cannot continue to govern much longer, having lost every last vestige of authority and the sooner it is taken out of its agony, the better for everybody." (22/11/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Elections, » Ireland, » Europe
All available articles from » Stephen Collins

Euro bailout takes priority

The financial help for Ireland is cheaper than allowing Europe's economic system to collapse, writes the liberal daily Kainuun Sanomat commenting on the single currency: "It's pointless to blame the euro for the current problems. It's not the single currency that's at fault but the heavy indebtedness of the states. The same problem exists outside the Eurozone, too. The states have too much debt and the banks are not strong enough financially. Dismantling the monetary union would not solve the debt problem, and the problems of the banks would increase. ... The loans and guarantees approved for Greece and Ireland are a small price to pay compared with seeing Europe's economy slide into chaos. As a country that lives from exports Finland would be among those worst affected." (21/11/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Financial Markets, » Ireland, » Europe

After Ireland, Portugal will be next

Following Ireland's request for financial help from an EU rescue package, the tabloid Correio da Manhã sees Portugal in danger as well: "The country could be the next victim. It is now the weakest link in the eurozone for the financial markets. The influential magazine The Economist is suggesting that the EU offer Portugal the same bail-out plan as the Irish. ... And the European Commission ... has vanished from this euro-war. The real capital of Europe is now Berlin. The idea of a single currency for both strong and weak markets is going badly. Portugal, Greece and even Spain can't keep pace with the Germans. But since these countries cannot devalue their currencies, they need to make structural adjustments. And that is by nature painful." (21/11/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Greece, » Ireland, » Portugal, » Europe
All available articles from » Armando Esteves Pereira

Rescue package alone is not sufficient

The financial bail-out for Ireland cannot disguise the fact that European decisions are too little, too late, the conservative daily Corriere della Sera criticises: The delay is driving up ... the costs of individual rescue packages. And it is also making clear that the leaderships of many countries have so far failed to get across to their voters a fact that should be obvious: without a common European economic area and institutional integration the whole of Europe (including Germany and France) will find itself in a backwater vis-a-vis Asia and America within a little over a decade's time. In view of a strategic risk of this kind, one would hope that Frau Merkel and her opponents will not, on account of domestic power struggles, demand demagogical sanctions for countries with large deficits and for careless investors. ... They should concentrate on convincing German SMEs that their future prosperity is closely linked with the fate of Europe. Therefore Europe's economic power must be translated into the power of political institutions and serve to build a Europe of cooperation." (22/11/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Marcello Messori

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