We need more than a pat on the head from EU
Charles de Talleyrand once said that "war is much too serious a thing to be left to military men". Having witnessed the debate that raged after Enda Kenny's remark in Davos, I wonder if Talleyrand's remark should also be applied to foreign relations and politicians.
Yes, some people went mad borrowing and certainly most politicians went mad borrowing (the current expenditure has grown in nominal terms by 138pc between 2000 and 2009, whereas the GDP has grown nominally only by 72pc), but I would be more inclined to applaud Mr Kenny's unexpected bout of honesty if he made it clear that the "mad borrowing" phrase also refers to the EU policy in general.
The worst aspect of the Taoiseach's remarks is that he weakened Ireland's negotiating position with Germany.
Germany likes to see herself as Europe's benefactor, but peripheral Europe paid for Germany's reunification in mass devaluations of peripheral currencies, massive capital flight and penal interest rates. I have had many German friends so I'm not biased against Germany -- but I know for a fact that between 1991 and 2003, Poland had a $122bn trading deficit with the EU mainly due to Germany and France flooding Poland with their products while imposing production limits on Poland and keeping their borders closed to the Polish workers.
Considering the German approach to Greek sovereignty, there is no guarantee that Ireland will not get the same treatment from Germany and France should the EU collapse. Of course, Ireland's place is in Europe, but this country is far less dependent on Germany than some people think.
In the 1970s, New Zealand lost access to its traditional food market in the UK after that country joined the EEC and yet, in the 1980s, its farming productivity increased dramatically thanks to some radical reforms (ie abolishing all 30 farm subsidies, forcing all public servants to take individual contracts to reduce collective bargaining and forcing the largest bank in New Zealand and its bondholders to take losses).
Meanwhile, Germany is not even Ireland's main export market (the main markets are the US and Britain -- even a small country like Belgium imports more Irish products than Germany).
When will Mr Kenny grasp that Germany and France are not interested in peripheral countries being manufacturing bases?
If a small country like the Czech Republic could withhold its acceptance of the Treaty on Stability because it doesn't want to cede greater powers to Brussels then I'm sure that the leader of this proud nation could have offered more resistance to Brussels than being patted on his head by Mr Sarkozy.
Grzegorz Kolodziej
Bray, Co Wicklow
Irish Independent
