A chara, – Tim Carey (February 12th) states “there is no mention of the IMF, no mention of loss of sovereignty” when referring to the EU support for Greece and suggests the Irish people were misled by the Government into accepting draconian cuts.
He is correct that the IMF will not provide credit lines which, although not explicitly stated, are expected to be provided directly by stronger euro zone countries.
However, Greece will suffer the same degree of intrusion in its domestic policy as a recipient of IMF credit; and IMF officials, along with experts from the ECB, will support the European Commission to ensure Greek compliance. This is an IMF bailout with the tweak that the cash comes from Brussels, Berlin or Paris, rather than Washington.
Ireland is not yet out of the woods, but its decisive action early in the sovereign debt crisis has resulted in widespread praise from market participants. Ireland’s standing in the international capital markets, as measured by credit default swaps, shows that over the past six months, Ireland has improved from worst-of-pack (by a wide margin) to joint best when looking at the weaker euro zone sovereigns of Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain and Ireland.
Noteworthy also is that within the same timeframe, the UK has done an impressive job in coming close to joining this club, closing its gap to Ireland by roughly one third. For once, the Government has actually done a good job and deserves praise. Unfortunately, and to borrow from Fianna Fáil’s 2002 election motto: a lot done, more to do.
– Is mise,
JONATHAN BLAKE
Jahnstrasse
Frankfurt
Germany.