TREATY CHANGES:IRELAND WILL ask European leaders to cut the cost of its bank bailout in return for agreeing European Union treaty changes that could trigger a potentially divisive referendum.
It will also seek to limit any treaty changes proposed at the EU summit in Brussels tomorrow and on Friday in the hope it can avoid a referendum.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said yesterday the Government had two objectives at the summit: solving the euro zone crisis and getting a deal to reduce Ireland’s national debt.
“We have to look to our own national interests here and particularly what can be done is respect of the debt burden this country has. You can rest assured our voice will be absolutely heard,” he said.
The Irish Government wants European authorities to reduce the cost of its bailout of €67.5 billion by between €15 billion and €20 billion, which it believes would reduce its national debt to more sustainable levels. It will argue that Ireland has borne an unfair burden because it agreed with the ECB not to impose losses on banks’ senior bondholders, a move that shielded the European banks from potentially damaging losses. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)