Ireland - loss of sovereignty

Ireland - 'Germany Is Our New Master'

Not only is Germany at the epicenter of the Italian-Spanish-French save-us 'discussion', they have now managed to add Ireland to their 'Uber Alles'. 

Reuters is reporting the leak of confidential Irish budget information by German lawmakers and Irish parliamentarians are seething - viewing the leak as 'incredible' and 'unprecedented'. Given the new laws, Germany now has the right to be fully informed about bailout countries' progress before new tranches of funds are paid out.

As the Irish Daily Mirror put it perfectly "Germany is our new master." 

Reuters: Ireland cries foul after German budget leak

"The Irish government has complained to European partners after confidential budget information shared with its EU-IMF lenders was leaked by German lawmakers, sparking a political storm at home.

"The media and opposition reacted furiously at the fact that the details of the December budget were presented to German lawmakers before their Irish counterparts, heightening fears that its EU-IMF bailout has undermined Irish sovereignty.

"Germany is our new master," ran a banner front-page headline in the Irish Daily Mirror. Opposition leaders in parliament described the leaks as "incredible" and "unprecedented" and demanded the government explain.

"New German laws give its parliament the right to be fully informed about bailout countries' progress before new trenches of funds are paid out and Ireland's main opposition party led cries Germany was now calling the shots in Europe.

"Germany is pushing aggressively for EU treaty change to create tighter fiscal discipline across the bloc and a spokesman for its finance ministry said there was a clear procedure allowing parliament to see confidential documents belonging to countries in EU/IMF programmes".

The leader of Ireland's largest opposition party said voters were entitled to an explanation of why the information was given to European partners before Irish lawmakers.

"I think it will be damaging in the sense that it plays to a narrative that Germany is calling shots all over Europe," Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin told Reuters.

"It will damage sentiment towards Europe and that is a problem."

And someone still thinks that this uber dysfunctional Europe can become a federal union?

It is evidently clear that sovereignty is indeed blurring at the edges - cue Nigel Farage.