IRELAND’S FORMER ATTORNEY General and EU commissioner has called on the European Union to review the terms of the country’s EU/IMF bailout package.
Peter Sutherland, who is currently chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs, said that the current terms could exacerbate Ireland’s economic troubles in a guest column for the Financial Times (FT).
The last government agreed an €85 billion bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund last year and Ireland is currently paying 5.8 per cent interest on over €40 billion worth of loans from Europe, above the EU funding cost of 2.9 per cent.
Writing for the FT, Sutherland says that that this is “exorbitant” and “probably unsustainable”, saying:
Far from helping to solve the problem it is therefore likely to exacerbate it.
With new Taoiseach Enda Kenny expected to try and renegotiate the terms of the deal, arguing that it is both bad for Ireland and bad for Europe, Sutherland says that the EU institutions must be redesigned, adding:
The reforms necessary for future crises need to be built on the foundations of successfully tackling the current crisis.
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