The EU Economics Commissioner has repeated his criticism of the Government's economic policies and says that Ireland must implement the policies to which it signed up. Pedro Solbes said that he hopes and expects that next Monday's meeting of EU finance ministers will endorse the commission's proposed censure of Ireland over its budgetary policies which breach the broad economic policy guidelines agreed by all of EU finance ministers last year.
Mr Solbes said that Ireland had been warned in 1998, 1999 and 2000 over its budgetary policies and that the Commission had to act now or else it would lose all moral authority in trying to carry out its task of co-ordinating economic policies throughout the EU. Mr Solbes said: "When you are part of a club you have to obey the rules."
The Commission said that Ireland is enjoying the benefits of low interest rates through its membership of the Euro zone but it could not expect to go on doing so without paying a price, and that price is the implementing of co-ordinated economic.
Mr Solbes said Ireland was enjoying the benefits of low interest rates through its membership of the Euro zone, but could not expect to go on doing so without paying a price; that price is the implementation of EU economic policies. He said he expected Monday's meeting of EU finance ministers to endorse the commission's proposed censure of Ireland.
