Monday, Jan 19, 2009
Former official at the Irish central bank speaks out
Telegraph: Help Ireland or it will exit euro, economist warns
"It is essential that we go to Europe and say we have a serious problem," said David McWilliams, a former official at the Irish central bank. "We say, either we default or we pull out of Europe."
"If Ireland continues hurtling down this road, which is close to default, the whole of Europe will be badly affected. The credibility of the euro will be badly affected. Then Spain might default, Italy and Greece," he said.
Mr McWilliams, a former UBS director and now prominent broadcaster, has broken the ultimate taboo by evoking threats to precipitate an EMU crisis, which would risk a chain reaction across the eurozone. The comments reflect growing bitterness in Dublin over the way the country has been treated after voting against the EU's Lisbon Treaty.
4 Comments
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1. paul said...
"By keeping with the current policy, the state is ensuring that Ireland turns itself into a large debt-repayment machine. Is this the sort of strategy to win wars? " he said.
Well, first of all if there's a war, Ireland won't be winning it. The Irish Navy fleet would have to hurl lobster pots at enemy vessels.
So Ireland resents paying back all that money it got on tick to fuel their housing boom? Tough - that's the nature of debt repayment - at least you'll come out of the recession creditworthy. The UK is doing a "soft default" by letting the pound plummet and fiddling interest rates.
2. mark wadsworth said...
Tee hee, glorious.
Lashings of Schadenfreude all round, it's just difficult deciding who is the bigger bunch of crooks.
3. plato said...
Ex-UBS - The bank that's been attacked by angry citizens........ Who would have dreamed this would happen in Switzerland of all places?
Anyway, dissatsfied rumblings within the Eurozone from one of the small players,Ireland similar to Spain in its rise to economic stardom. Given so much financial aid so as to have an unfair advantage over those who actually contributed. Now it's time to return back to Earth and stop behaving like a spoilt child,given so much and still wanting more.
Actually I doubt the Irish people wanted the dream so much as their leaders. They probably asked the questions :
Is everyone going to be Number 1 ?
Is everyone going to be rich ?
Is everyone going to be equal?
For the people - No - Personally for their leaders - Yes, this could be acheived for themselves.
4. goweresque said...
Ireland is screwed. Its a stark warning to the Euro enthusiasts who would have had us join up years ago with the euro at 1.70 to the pound. Imagine how bad a situation we would be in now (well, even worse than we are!) if we couldn't reduce our own rates and let the exchange rate fall to cushion the conomy? I'll repeat what I've said before - the fall in the pound (for all its negative consequences) will save us from economic and social meltdown.