Kenny to discuss EU with Merkel

THE TAOISEACH said he would discuss “perspectives on what lies ahead for the euro zone and the EU” when he meets German chancellor Angela Merkel today.

Enda Kenny said things were moving at a frenetic pace.

“Two technocratic governments have been established, with prime minister Monti putting together a government in Italy and prime minister Papademos focusing on the Greek situation,” he added.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he welcomed the fact that after eight months and five summits the Taoiseach would finally hold a bilateral summit with a leader of a euro zone country.

He added that he had been pressing him since last June on the urgent need for the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to do more than just talk about diplomatic initiatives.

Mr Martin recalled writing to the Taoiseach last week calling for a cross-party consensus which would set out clearly Ireland’s position. “He rejected that and refused even to consider holding a meeting on it,” he added.

Mr Martin said that if the Taoiseach continued to sign off on statements claiming that the euro crisis was about individual countries being reckless, Ireland would continue quietly with the end of the euro and the economic disaster which might follow.

Mr Kenny said he had attended eight European meetings, including two meetings of the European People’s Party, and he had also recently met the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso.

Nicolas Sarkozy had offered a date for a meeting which he could not take up because he had business with the British-Irish council.

Mr Kenny added that securing cross-party consensus on a specific mandate was not possible because Sinn Féin had been completely opposed to the concept of European union.

Mr Kenny said one could also be locked into a specific mandate that was “completely off-the-wall or irrelevant in terms of what can happen at such meetings”.

He had stated previously, he added, as had Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, that if one wanted unlimited financial fire power to deal with contagion across countries, the ECB was obviously the ultimate authority.