IRISH Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, and the Irish government, are being forced onto their knees by the EU and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Lenihan yesterday reacted to claims that Ireland, by earlier refusing an EU aid package of some 90bn euros was torpedoing the Euro, and undermining the European Union, by saying that his government will accept European support if the banking crisis is too big for Ireland to fix on its own.
The banking crisis is obviously too big for any one country to fix on its own, so the Irish ruling class is getting ready for an ECB take-over of its economy, the first steps of which will see the Irish Treasury opening up its books for inspection by the ECB, and handing over hard won Irish sovereignty along with them.
Lenihan said there would be a ‘short focused consultation’ with officials from the ECB, EC, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Dublin today.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, he made it clear that he had been made an offer that he could not refuse, saying: ‘Despite a large range of measures adopted by the government, Ireland is a small country, and if the banking problems in the country are too big for this small country to manage, Europe is making it clear that they will help and help in every possible way to secure the system.’
In fact, any new massive loan will have many draconian attachments including selling off the public sector, wage cuts, spending cuts and big job cuts.
The purpose of the loan is to reassure the bond markets that they will be repaid, so that bond yields can be lowered and hugely indebted EU states such as Portugal and Spain are able to continue financing their ever growing government debt. This is what Ireland is to be sacrificed for.
The alarm bells had been rung stridently on Tuesday when Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, warned that the deepening debt crisis had left the single currency and EU fighting for their ‘survival’.
He said: ‘We are in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone because if we don’t survive with the euro zone, we will not survive with the EU.’
Questioned on the issue of British bilateral loans, Lenihan said this was a matter for the United Kingdom.
He added: ‘The euro zone is determined to protect its own financial system, and that’s very important, and the statement made very clear last night that the measures undertaken by Ireland to deal with the issues in the banking sector . . . were welcomed by them and were seen as appropriate by them.’
George Osborne, the British Chancellor, has pledged British support of up to £7bn for an EU bail-out of Ireland and its banking sector. In fact, the exposure of British financial institutions to the Irish banks is £140bn.
If they go down so will the British banks.
In fact, a forced Irish bail-out will sharpen the crisis of the the Euro zone currency, and the European Union.
The focus of the attack will move onto Portugal, Spain and Italy, while the Irish workers and youth will rise up to fight the huge new attacks on their living standards that the bail-out will bring. They will bring down the present government and demand that Ireland quits the European Union.
The indebtedness of the Eurozone will increase and the vast majority of the bankrupt states will drag the rest down with them via the collapse of the euro.
There is only one way out of this crisis and this is through organising socialist revolutions throughout Europe to replace the EU with the Socialist United States of Europe, based on a planned socialist economy organised to satisfy people’s needs, not make billions for the bankers and the bond market parasites.
This is why sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International must be built throughout Europe.
