Germany has gained from crisis, says FG

GERMANY HAD gained a lot from the European economic crisis, Fine Gael finance spokesman Michael Noonan claimed in the Dáil.

German bonds, he said, were a safe haven for the savings of Europeans, particularly in peripheral countries. “A reasonable calculation would suggest that German debt servicing has gone down by between €15 billion and €20 billion since the start of this crisis because of the inflow of funds from elsewhere,” said Mr Noonan.

He added that the pitch was “very uneven at present, and I am growing increasingly concerned about the weight of what is being imposed on Ireland and the lack of understanding, in particular, on the part of European institutions, although the IMF, which has experience in this area, seems to be taking a more tolerant view”.

He did not believe, he said, the euro zone had been developed as a proper fiscal zone. In the US, there were automatic stabilisers available when things went wrong in a particular state and there could be fiscal flows from one part of the country to another to maintain an economy.

He added that big countries, such as Germany and France, had a responsibility to get demand going in the economy. “Why do they not cut their taxes, get consumer spending going and give us a chance to export to them,” he asked.

“Was not the entire basis of the new Europe that there would be an interchange, with countries buying and selling to each other to get the economy going?”

Mr Noonan said the view advocated by the policymakers in Europe was incredibly narrow, and he did not believe it would work.

“There is no point in blaming Ireland because the euro is under pressure,” said Mr Noonan. “The euro is under pressure because it has fundamental flaws in its composition.”

He said he wanted to tell the European Commission “we are not a colony but a sovereign government”.

“I want to tell those clever anonymous spokespersons from the European institutions that the way we behave here is governed by the European treaties and they should not advocate solutions for Ireland that are beyond the scope of the treaties.”

He wanted to tell the commission, he said, that Fine Gael was committed to the plan’s targets but not to the specifics.

Labour spokeswoman Joan Burton accused former taoiseach Bertie Ahern of attempting to blame others, including Taoiseach Brian Cowen, for the State’s economic difficulties.

Mr Ahern, she said, had remained silent in terms of explaining himself to the Dáil. But he had given an interview for a new book to David J Lynch, which, she believed, was aimed at Irish-Americans and people in the US.

She quoted from Mr Ahern’s interview: “At any time, had they come in and put the doomsday message, I think we could have done a lot of things. But there was no sense, I can tell you, of that. I mean, there wasn’t one meeting with the Central Bank guys, not one meeting where they were putting the red lights on. Not one meeting. And never did Brian Cowen or the financial officials come over to me to say that the whole thing, the bottom, was going to fall out.”

The remarks showed Mr Ahern’s cleverness, she added.

“It is a crushing indictment of the Department of Finance, the Central Bank and of his anointed heir and successor, the present Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen,” said Ms Burton.