Matt Cooper on the Central Role of Germany in our Destiny.

Matt Cooper gets it right. He says “Germans are calling the shots, so pray we’re still in their good books.” U-Turn by Brian Lenihan signalled on the longevity of Anglo Irish Bank. The German government controls our immediate economic status. The EU obviously told Minister Lenihan to forget the free
money for Anglo as it will balloon Ireland’s budget deficit. Anglo is heading for the scrap-yard. This will be announced soon and the latest date will be late September when the guarantees expire. The German’s will force us to cut pay and numbers by the thousands in the public sector. Cowen has already said that there is a €3 billion cut coming in the budget at year-end here. We may be in trouble if the German’s decide to eject us from the Euro because of national profligacy. The same could happen to all the PIGGS – Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The German public are unsympathetic.

Imagine if the EU takes full fiscal and monetary control of the Irish finances – there would be huge cuts and an abolition of the low 12.5% corporation tax here. This would eliminate a key incentive for US multinationals here. If this is the future, then the future looks very difficult.

Members of the public will be very upset and angry.