European Parliament president backs cut in bailout interest rate

Jerzy Buzek is in Ireland for a two-day visit, and will address the Seanad and an Oireachtas Committee on Ireland’s role.

THE PRESIDENT OF the European Parliament has said he supports Ireland’s campaigns for a cut in the interest rate on its EU-IMF bailout.

Jerzy Buzek was speaking on the first day of a two-day visit to Ireland, after a meeting with Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in which the foreign affairs minister outlined Ireland’s efforts to get its economy back on track.

“Growth is necessary – from this point of view, the interest tax will be important,” the Belfast Telegraph quotes Buzek as offering. “In the European Parliament, it is rather positive approach [sic] for such ideas.”

Ireland’s interest rate has not been formally discussed in the European Parliament, as it is a matter for the continent’s 27 finance ministers, but Buzek said he could “feel such atmosphere” that the parliament had sympathy for Ireland’s cause.

This morning Buzek meets the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, before later addressing the Seanad and a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on European Union affairs.

More: Hopes of interest rate cut aided by statement from EU finance leaders >

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