TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has said the Fiscal Compact does not need to be changed in order to provide for greater economic growth in Europe – but said it is “not for me” to interfere in the French presidential election.
The Taoiseach was responding to insistence of French election frontrunner Francois Hollande that he will not sign the treaty in its current incarnation, demanding amendments to enforce a greater growth agenda across the Eurozone.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Kenny said the treaty as it currently stood was an exercise in ensuring that European countries were already geared towards ensuring greater growth.
Kenny quoted Article 1 of the Fiscal Compact which insisted that the measures were an attempted to support “the achievement of the European Union’s objectives for sustainable growth, employment, competitiveness and social cohesion”.
The Taoiseach was responding to complaints from Shane Ross that Ireland was still proceeding to a vote on a treaty which could be significantly altered if Hollande, as expected, wins in the French presidential run-off next Sunday.
“In view of the fact that only three – only three – at this stage have ratified that treaty,” Ross asked, “would the Taoiseach not… join with those forces in a campaign to install within that treaty, growth measures as are being suggested and championed by others in Europe who are likely to be in government this time next week?”
Kenny said he welcomed the decision of any move to pursue a growth agenda, as he said he had already done at European level, but that this did not mean the fiscal rules being imposed in the current treaty needed amendment.
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