Ireland Has Lost It’s New World Order Lapdog
Saturday, February 25th, 2012Compliments fly as Kenny meets Monti in Rome
PADDY AGNEW in Rome
IT WAS a day when old acquaintances simply could not say enough good things about one another. When Taoiseach Enda Kenny met his Italian opposite number Mario Monti at Palazzo Chigi, government house, yesterday, the reciprocal compliments flew through the sunny Rome air.
Mr Monti described the Taoiseach as the “author of an important turning point” in the Irish economy, while the Taoiseach underlined on at least three occasions just how Mr Monti had “restored the reputation of Italy”, repositioning Italy right at the very heart of the EU economic debate.
It was all rather a change from the last time, back in May 2004, when a taoiseach travelled to Rome for a bilateral with the Italian prime minister. On that occasion, the two protagonists, Messrs Berlusconi and Ahern, probably spent more time considering AC Milan’s Champions League form than the EU’s balance sheet.
The fact that eight years have past since the last Italian-Irish bilateral possibly says much about the failings of recent ruling regimes. Yesterday, both leaders were keen to stress their common vision for the immediate future of the EU, a vision that includes job creation initiatives as much as austerity.
Mr Monti expressed his satisfaction that Ireland was one of those 12 countries (France and Germany excluded) that, in view of next week’s EU summit, had signed a letter to EU presidents Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, calling for a set of growth-related measures.
Mr Kenny, who has known Mr Monti since the latter’s mid-1990s days as a European commissioner, emphasised Mr Monti’s European pedigree, clearly suggesting that this is one dude to whom everybody listens, Merkel and Sarkozy included.
One had the distinct sensation that the EU “B” team, ie the Minnows, may well have found itself a charismatic, heavyweight centre-forward for its forthcoming battles with the “A” team, ie Merkozy.
In that context, the Taoiseach pointed out that at his meeting with the German chancellor on Thursday, he had stressed the need for “strong firewalls to prevent contagion”, in the process using almost exactly the same words as Mr Monti did last week.
All in all, it was a very satisfied Taoiseach who met the media yesterday morning, reporting on this week’s meetings with senior partners, Italy and Germany, saying: “Both were very good meetings and in both I gave an update of the actions taken by the Irish Government in respect of addressing our public finance problem and in respect of dealing with our agenda for growth and jobs . . . I also reported on the preparatory work . . . prior to Ireland holding the EU presidency for the first half of 2013 and some of issues we would like to raise and deal with during that presidency . . . ”
The Taoiseach also stressed the importance of EU leaders meeting “outside the formality of EU Council meetings” in a context where a more “normal” discussion might take place.
The Monti government, he said, was very “open and accessible”. As we said, it was a day when the compliments were flying.
Article by: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0225/1224312370589.html?via=rel
Images by: Bob Newman ebookcashstreams.com
