An EU summit on the issue of tax co-ordination on Wednesday (22 May) is likely to put more pressure on low-tax countries like Ireland amid revelations in the US that Apple and other large corporations are using EU-based ...

Russia has threatened to impose a US-type adoption ban on EU presidency country Ireland if its MPs pass a tough resolution on the late anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky. Its ambassador in Dublin, Maxim Peshkov, ...

Among other things, recent European politics has suffered from a shortage of prophets. Although it would be a stretch to describe Michael Higgins as a prophet, the Irish president is possibly Europe's only intellectual ...

The German Parliament on Thursday (18 April) approved with a large majority a €10 billion EU and International Monetary Fund bailout for Cyprus. They also backed a request to give seven extra years for Ireland and ...

Austria has accused the UK of being a haven for money launderers ahead of an EU meeting in Dublin, with Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia's (potential) bailout needs also on the agenda. The Austrian finance ...

Ireland and Portugal are to be given more time to repay their emergency loans with both countries seen as good pupils in following the imposed austerity programme. An EU finance ministers meeting Tuesday (5 March) noted ...

Budget airline Ryanair has slammed what it described as a "politically motivated" decision by the European Commission to block its €694 million bid to take over rival Aer Lingus. In a strongly worded statement issued as ...

The Irish government has secured the tacit blessing of the European Central Bank (ECB) on a long-awaited deal extending the debt repayment on its bailed out banks. "Today's outcome is an historic step on the road to ...

EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta has called on the Irish presidency to break the log-jam on proposed EU tax legislation, while saying that Brussels has no plans to harmonise national tax rates. Speaking to the Irish ...

Ireland is holding itself up as an example of hope for other ailing eurozone countries, saying it is on track to come out of its EU-International-Monetary-Fund (IMF) bailout programme later this year, but that it wants ...

Ireland takes over the EU presidency this week, amid promises to help restore growth to the European economy. It marked the event with a modest EU balloon-flying and flag-raising ceremony in Dublin castle on New Year's ...

The incoming Irish EU presidency says it will focus on jobs and growth in the next six months, echoing claims the sovereign debt part of the euro crisis has ended. Foreign minister Eamon Gilmore told press in Brussels ...

Exactly 40 years after it joined the EU, Ireland will take on the day-to-day running of the EU including overseeing the almost 70 laws needed to get the currently-disputed longterm budget up and running. The debt-ridden ...

The EU court in Luxembourg will on Tuesday (23 October) hold its first hearing on an Irish challenge to the EU bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Based in a small office in Luxembourg, run by a German ...

The data protection office (DPC) in crisis-hit Ireland might need to hire more staff to cope with the demands of an upcoming EU privacy law. Ireland is the EU headquarters of some of the world's largest Internet ...

Recession-hit Portugal is likely to miss its deficit target this year, the troika of international lenders is expected to conclude next month following its return to Lisbon on Tuesday (28 August) to take stock of the ...

The European Commission in Wednesday (6 June) unveiled proposals designed to change the too-big-to-fail rationale that has seen billions of euros of tax payers' money pumped into Europe's ailing banking sector. "We are ...

At the outset there was a clear choice for the Irish electorate, when they went to the polls last Thursday for the 9th time on a European issue since 1973. „Yes to Stability“ or „No to Austerity“. And they delivered a ...

Ireland has voted in a favour of the fiscal discipline treaty but the Yes vote is seen as grudging and the country is now expecting EU "solidarity" in return. With all votes counted, 60.3 percent voted in favour of the ...

Irish voters are heading to the polls on Thursday (31 May) to decide on the budget-balancing fiscal discipline treaty, amid a stark warning by Prime Minister Enda Kenny that to reject the document would see the country' ...

Another European treaty. Another Irish referendum. Once again the main political parties, somewhat battle weary, join forces to argue Yes. Sinn Fein and Declan Ganley, the maverick federalist, campaign for a No. Most ...

EU foreign ministers have "warned" Israel they will take a tougher approach to exports originating in illegal settlements on Palestinian land. The ministers in a statement on Monday (14 May) detailing Israel's long-term ...

"You have to be able to think like an academic, act like a diplomat and write like a journalist", says Hugo Brady, who works in Brussels as senior research fellow for the UK-based Centre for European Reform. He analyses ...

People from all over the world are expected to take to the streets on 12 May to celebrate the first anniversary of the Spanish 'indignado' movement protesting economic austerity measures. Brussels-based 'indignados' ...

Conservative MEP Sean Kelly, in favour of the fiscal discipline treaty, goes head to head with Socialist MEP Paul Murphy arguing for a No. Analyst Hugo Brady from the Centre for European Reform says Irish people are ...

As an Irish legislator and citizen I keep asking myself, would it not be absurd if Irish voters were to vote in the 31 May Fiscal Compact Referendum in favour of imposing austerity rules on ourselves in order to get ...

Prime Minister Enda Kenny says voting in favour of the fiscal compact treaty on 31 May will secure Ireland's role in the eurozone and give the country access to the EU's long term bailout fund, the ESM. Others, such as ...

Almost half of Irish people have refused to pay a household tax imposed as part of promised savings measures, while government pressure to secure the levy risks further angering an austerity-weary public. By a Saturday ...

The drafters of the fiscal discipline treaty did everything they could to make sure it would not trigger a referendum in Ireland but a fact beyond their control - that it was a deal outside EU structures - means Irish ...

In a surprise move, the Irish government on Tuesday (28 February) decided to hold a referendum on the new intergovernmental treaty on fiscal discipline demanded by Germany for future eurozone bail-outs. "The Irish ...

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said he intends to establish a permanent referendum commission so that the public is fully prepared for a possible poll on the fiscal discipline treaty currently being drawn up by ...

A majority of French people are opposed to the recently agreed EU plans for a fiscal compact treaty, with opposition Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande calling for a renegotiation of the text. Some 52 ...

The EU’s new fiscal compact is again getting a bumpy ride from a number of quarters in member states, with opposition parties in Ireland warning over loss of sovereignty and the leaders of the Czech Republic and Finland ...

Already at the margins of society by virtue of casual discrimination, disabled people are often among the worst hit by the waves of austerity measures being put in place right across the European Union. As governments ...

This month marks one year since Ireland received a €85bn EU-IMF bailout, after its once booming economy crashed alongside the bursting of a real estate bubble in 2008. Although ordinary Irish people were not responsible ...

Irish left-wing MEP Paul Murphy has said he was badly treated after he and 26 activists were detained by Israeli armed forces when they tried to sail to Gaza at the weekend. "Our boat was almost sunk by the manner in ...