GREECE’S PRIME MINISTER has called on the European Union to give Ireland a revised package of bailout terms allowing it to cope more easily with its debt problems.
Speaking in parliament this morning for the first time since last Friday’s meeting of the European Council – which saw Greece’s own bailout terms softened – George Papandreou said he wanted Ireland to be given similar concessions.
“We hope Ireland is included in the more favourable terms that we got as soon as possible,” Reuters quotes him as telling the country’s unicameral parliament.
Greece was given the equivalent of a 1 per cent cut on the rate of interest on its own €110bn bailout at Friday’s meeting, while the duration of its loans was also extended from three years to seven and a half.
Ireland was offered a similar 1 per cent cut on its own €67.5bn bailout, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said after the meeting, but some European leaders – primarily France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy – demanded that Ireland increase its corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent in exchange for any concession.
The European Union has denied that the two matters are linked, however, saying Kenny merely chose to interpret its request to “engage constructively in the question of tax co-ordination”.
Papandreou said the negotiations at the meeting had been “tough” and that Greece had fought a difficult battle to win European approval for the adjusted terms of its loans.
“Certainly, we would have liked bolder decisions from Europe,” Papandreou said, adding that he felt the prospect of a Eurobond – a common bond issued by the European Central Bank, which could substitute for bonds issued by individual countries – could offer a “final solution” to the European debt problem.
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