Cowen praises tough measures in meeting with Spanish PM

TOUGH AUSTERITY measures announced by Spain last week were praised by Taoiseach Brian Cowen at a bilateral meeting with Spanish…

TOUGH AUSTERITY measures announced by Spain last week were praised by Taoiseach Brian Cowen at a bilateral meeting with Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero yesterday.

Mr Cowen, in the Spanish capital for the Latin American, Caribbean and EU summit, said he was pleased to have had the opportunity to meet Mr Zapatero after being forced to cancel a scheduled meeting in February.

Mr Cowen, ending his brief visit to Madrid, said the two had discussed the economic situation. They also exchanged opinions on the 2020 Strategy, which replaced the Lisbon Agreement. He said they were in broad agreement over the strategy.

They discussed plans for next month’s EU summit, when Spain ends its six-month rotating presidency. It was positive, he said, that European governments stepped in so quickly to defend the euro, praising the confidence-building measures they brought in.

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Although Spain and Ireland had economic crises, they were not the same. “Spain doesn’t have the bank crisis we experienced. We have different problems.”

Mr Zapatero and many of the other 33 heads of state and government representing 80 countries favoured closer trade links with Mercosur (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil). He said it was agreed at the summit to reopen talks with Mercosur, representing almost a billion people.

The Taoiseach said he was concerned about negative repercussions these could have in Ireland, particularly on the beef industry.

“We expressed our concern that Irish interests could be affected, and we are very anxious to ensure we defend our interests,” he said. Nine other countries expressed doubts, and the issue is to be raised at a meeting of European agriculture ministers next week.

The conference did reach an important trade agreement with the Central American bloc of Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua – the first reached between the EU and a regional bloc.

Argentine president Cristina Fernández, on behalf of Latin American countries, said she was in favour of “historic” links between the EU and Mercosur.

She criticised discriminatory laws against immigrants in some European countries. “We are very concerned at the discrimination suffered by immigrants in some developed countries,” she said.

She raised hackles with the British delegation in repeating her country’s claim over the Falkland Islands, or Las Malvinas, and demanded a renegotiation on the disputed islands, which brought the two countries to war in 1982. Recent offshore exploration there has shown the presence of valuable oil and mineral deposits. The British government rejected the claims. “We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. The Lisbon Treaty clearly reaffirms the EU position that the Falkland Islands are an overseas territory of the UK.”

In the closing session last night, Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council, described the summit as “very successful”, and said Latin American and Caribbean ties will be strengthened.