Graham Brady is Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale West and a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee. He was Shadow Minister for Europe between 2004 and 2007.
The black humour of the credit crunch has it that the only difference between Ireland and Iceland is one letter and about six months. At Davos, Peter Sutherland, the BP Chairman and former EU Commissioner took a different view – that the thing that stands between the Irish economy and an Icelandic style meltdown is Ireland’s membership of the Euro.
His opinion appears to have traction in Reykjavik where there is talk of a fast-track application to join the currency bloc. But if he is right, why is there increasing talk about the mounting problems that face Ireland and the other PIIGS: Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain within the Eurozone?
The irony is that while signing up to the (relative) discipline of the European Central Bank could restore some confidence and credibility to Iceland’s tiny Nordic economy, the PIIGS, are doing everything in their power to escape those self same fiscal rules.
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