Metropol

Ireland has accepted a bailout package from the EU and IMF that comes with drastic conditions attached, such as dramatic increases in taxation, cuts to social welfare and a reduction of the minimum wage by €1.

Ireland's efforts to pull themselves out of the mire have already been hampered by their inability to set their own interest rates or carry out quantitative easing by virtue of being a Eurozone member. If that wasn't bad enough, now Brussels are telling Ireland to cut their minimum wage in return for a much-needed loan. It is absolutely sickening to watch and we in the UK should thank our lucky stars we never joined the blasted Euro.

In the last few hours the Irish Labour and Green parties have called for a dissolution of parliament.

I hope the SNP are watching this debacle.

Alexia wrote:I hope the SNP are watching this debacle.

The way the opinion polls are going up here there will lose in May 2011...

Any-ways, I still think there should raise the Corporation tax to at least 15%, but alas UK can not let Eire go down the shiter as RBS in which we public own 83% of it has about £53Billion in loans in Eire, thus well you can guess.

Chie wrote:now Brussels are telling Ireland to cut their minimum wage in return for a much-needed loan. It is absolutely sickening to watch and we

I'm a bit confused, as you never liked the minimum wage, and making Eire cutting ( For one of EU highest ) could actully help the.. it would still be around 7 euros an hour.

barcode wrote:

Alexia wrote:I hope the SNP are watching this debacle.

The way the opinion polls are going up here there will lose in May 2011...

and won't have held their referendum either, because they know fine well they'd lose it.

barcode wrote:

Chie wrote:now Brussels are telling Ireland to cut their minimum wage in return for a much-needed loan. It is absolutely sickening to watch and we

I'm a bit confused, as you never liked the minimum wage, and making Eire cutting ( For one of EU highest ) could actully help the.. it would still be around 7 euros an hour.

I like my democratically elected government having sole control over what happens to OUR minimum wage.

This bailout is tantamount to an economic invasion of which Hitler and Stalin would both be proud. The EU has called in the IMF on Ireland's behalf, even though no intervention was required at this point, and told the Irish what to implement in their next budget. They may as well go over to Ireland in person and commandeer the entire government because that essentially is what they are doing, only this time using money as the weapon.

The EU as a whole is just pointless - it doesn't generate wealth, it merely redistributes wealth that has already been created and would always have been created with or without the EU's existence. We don't need Europe for security as we're a member of NATO and an attack on one NATO country is considered an attack on all, which is why we're in Afghanistan for example. The whole thing needs dismantling. I hope certain Irish people are paying close attention to this erosion of their much fought for independence.

Somehow "prone to hyperbole" doesn't quite cover it when reading chie's posts...

Pete wrote:

barcode wrote:

Alexia wrote:I hope the SNP are watching this debacle.

The way the opinion polls are going up here there will lose in May 2011...

and won't have held their referendum either, because they know fine well they'd lose it.

That is why I admired Wendy for pushing for the referendum even earlier as she know it would fall and could get on with other business

Chie wrote:

barcode wrote:

Chie wrote:now Brussels are telling Ireland to cut their minimum wage in return for a much-needed loan. It is absolutely sickening to watch and we

I'm a bit confused, as you never liked the minimum wage, and making Eire cutting ( For one of EU highest ) could actully help the.. it would still be around 7 euros an hour.

I like my democratically elected government having sole control over what happens to OUR minimum wage.

This bailout is tantamount to an economic invasion of which Hitler and Stalin would both be proud. The EU has called in the IMF on Ireland's behalf, even though no intervention was required at this point, and told the Irish what to implement in their next budget. They may as well go over to Ireland in person and commandeer the entire government because that essentially is what they are doing, only this time using money as the weapon.

The EU as a whole is just pointless - it doesn't generate wealth, it merely redistributes wealth that has already been created and would always have been created with or without the EU's existence. We don't need Europe for security as we're a member of NATO and an attack on one NATO country is considered an attack on all, which is why we're in Afghanistan for example. The whole thing needs dismantling. I hope certain Irish people are paying close attention to this erosion of their much fought for independence.

Although I wouldn't word it like you have, I agree totally. I'm completely anti-EU, and the EU is one of the few things that seems to transcend political views. I know a Marxist, an anarcho-communist, and a far-right Conservative, and the three of them hate the EU. By the way, I'm a centre-right libertarian (apparently).

Lowering the minimum wage seems like a fast-track to civil disobedience if you ask me.

Chie wrote:This bailout is tantamount to an economic invasion of which Hitler and Stalin would both be proud.

It's Ireland's sovereign choice to be a member of the EU and to accept any loans. Besides, the EU played a hugely important role in Ireland's initial transformation from a rather poor backwater into a modern economy.

Chie wrote:The EU as a whole is just pointless - it doesn't generate wealth, it merely redistributes wealth that has already been created and would always have been created with or without the EU's existence.

The EU's single market -- which enables a free flow of goods, people, and services, a common regulatory environment, etc. -- has generated huge amounts of wealth over the years. That's why the vast majority of European countries, regardless of their wealth, have chosen to be members.

WW Update wrote:It's Ireland's sovereign choice to be a member of the EU and to accept any loans. Besides, the EU played a hugely important role in Ireland's initial transformation from a rather poor backwater into a modern economy.

The Irish people weren't given a referendum on joining the Euro. When they voted 'no' to the Lisbon Treaty a second referendum was held and the EU embarked on a propaganda drive, buying up advertising space in Irish media to persuade people to vote 'yes' because they didn't get the answer they wanted the first time.

WW Update wrote:The EU's single market -- which enables a free flow of goods, people, and services, a common regulatory environment, etc. -- has generated huge amounts of wealth over the years. That's why the vast majority of European countries, regardless of their wealth, have chosen to be members.

The majority of European countries were bribed into joining Europe with the promise of subsidies worth billions.

The only wealth that has been 'generated' was in the form of credit. If these countries are so flipping wealthy why can't they afford to pay back the money they borrowed? Why did they need to borrow money in the first place? You create wealth by growing things, mining things and making things, not by leeching billions of pounds from rich countries and literally giving it away to the likes of Spain, Poland and Ireland, which is what the EU does.