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Herman van Rompuy will convene EU heads of government exactly halfway between Francois Hollande taking office and Ireland's referendum on the Fiscal Compact. Yves Logghe/AP

Van Rompuy arranges EU 'growth summit' ahead of Irish referendum

The European Council will meet on May 23, eight days before Ireland’s referendum, in an olive branch to Francois Hollande.

THE PRESIDENT of the European Council has arranged an informal summit of the EU heads of government for two weeks’ time, in what will be seen as an olive branch to Francois Hollande’s demands for amendments to the fiscal compact.

Herman van Rompuy announced through Twitter that he would hold an informal meeting of the European Council, the body of the EU’s 27 heads of state or government, on May 23.

That date also comes just eight days before the Irish referendum on the Fiscal Compact – a deal which Hollande wants to renegotiate in order to provide for greater growth policies at European level.

Opponents of the treaty in Ireland have also cited its failure to promote growth as one of the fiscal compact’s main failings.

The dinner will provide Hollande with his first opportunity to meet the other EU heads of state, coming eight days after his inauguration as Nicolas Sarkozy’s successor.

Hollande’s appointment will bring to six the number of socialist heads of government on the 27-member council.

The Irish government, as well as Germany’s Angela Merkel and ECB president Mario Draghi, have both argued in favour of retaining the Fiscal Compact as it currently stands, seeking a supplementary ‘growth compact’ instead of undoing the current treaty.

Read: Merkel: Fiscal Treaty will not be renegotiated

More: Labour accuses Sinn Féin, the Socialist Party of ‘twisting the facts’ of Hollande victory

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59 Comments
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    Mute great gael of Eire
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    Jun 16th 2020, 2:58 PM

    Why not get the ECB to print the money and give it to the Irish Govt to kick start the economy. Create new projects all over the country and the money should filter down to everyone in the economy. The reason the ECB tries not to print money is to prevent inflation. That’s the only reason. But we are in a crisis and we need money to get the economy going again. Central banks can do what ever they want

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Jun 16th 2020, 2:38 PM

    A lot will depend on how well (if at all) the tourist industry bounces back when restrictions are fully lifted.
    I think a lot of other sectors will be ok as they were performing well before the crisis hit.

    33
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    Mute Martin Peter Rahill
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    Jun 16th 2020, 4:07 PM

    Clamping down on Tax Evasion rather than just increasing tax would be a fine chance. Nixers & other undeclared additional income cheat everyone. The “Welfare Cheats cheat us all” is a classist argument that cost a fortune to roll out – and gathered less money in enforcement actions than it cost.

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    Mute Michael Wall
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    Jun 16th 2020, 5:22 PM

    The ECB have already agreed to underwrite everything at 0%, no need for a recession. We can push money into the economy, build needed infrastructure all we need is a government and an Irish central bank with vision.

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Jun 16th 2020, 3:19 PM

    Sure we can blame the greens for it because somehow they buried us in corrupt debt for the last 20 years….knowing the moronic Irish voter down they will somehow come to this conclusion lol.

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    Mute Sean
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    Jun 16th 2020, 3:29 PM

    @Peter Hughes: well the green party last time they were in power introduced a regressive carbon tax which does nothing but punish people who have no choice to drive due to lack of rural public transport, can’t see them doing much better this time round

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Jun 16th 2020, 4:10 PM

    @Sean: Lol nothing to do with FFG and their stellar governance….we deserve them let’s face it.

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    Mute Mickomacko
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    Jun 17th 2020, 1:11 AM

    That building, it looks like there is still scaffolding around it

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    Mute Mickomacko
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    Jun 17th 2020, 1:11 AM

    That building, it looks like there is still scaffolding around it

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