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independence of the Bank of England in the UK, from the role of the elite civil service in France to the power of the regions in Spain. If it is useful to apply the concept to the Federal Republic in the twenty-first century, then perhaps the limitations on sovereignty resulting from membership of the EU should be placed high on the list, especially now that Germany, like almost all the other member states, no longer controls its own currency or the policies such as interest rates which accompany membership of the Eurozone (Helms, 2003 , pp. 6–7). So yes, Germany is now a
incompatible with the European Union as long as it is given special recognition for its difference. In this way, it is very much the ‘Scotland of Europe’. The ‘hard’ English Eurosceptic version of the past presents the development of representative democracy in England as incompatible with what is perceived as the anti-democratic development of the EU since 1992 and especially after the Eurozone crisis, which means that the UK should withdraw from the EU and embrace the opportunities presented by globalisation (assuming that European integration and globalisation are
notwithstanding), and arguing that in post-Eurozone crisis Europe there was no longer a good economic argument for remaining a member, the newspaper launched its ‘crusade’ for British withdrawal. Whilst the Express conceded the historic reasons for seeking European unity in the wake of two world wars it noted that ‘Britain is a land apart’ that was never entirely a part of the historical trajectory that propelled the Continental powers towards integration. Tacking the Thatcherite critique of the political class onto a maritime metaphor, the Express argued as follows
justifying their actions by reference to the mood in Brussels and Frankfurt. When Ireland became the only country to hold a referendum on the EU’s Fiscal Compact in 2012, voters were warned that a triumph for the ‘No’ side would have catastrophic results, leading to expulsion from the Eurozone and the immediate cancellation of financial aid; the merits and demerits of the proposal itself barely featured in the debate. Against this backdrop, many on the Irish left have begun to question their view of the European project.1 Having previously thought of the Union as a
draconian cuts to the public finances. Yet, despite these cuts, dubbed ‘masochistic’ by the Financial Times, Ireland’s economy continued to stagnate and its debt levels increased.20 The strategy quickly became unstuck when the ECB became increasingly concerned about the level of the eurozone’s exposure to Ireland’s now MUP_CoulterNagle_Printer3.indd 89 24/04/2015 16:36 90 The political economy of crisis in Ireland toxic banking system. The structure of inter-European lending over the previous decade of monetary union meant that ‘core’ banks and financial
. ‘Although Ireland lies in the Eurozone’ wrote Shaxson, ‘its emergence as a secrecy jurisdiction in the late 1980s was substantially linked to and promoted by interests in the City of London.’2 At first this appears to be at odds with the mainstream narrative in Ireland, which puts the creation of the IFSC down to two men: Dermot Desmond and Charles J. Haughey.3 However, Ireland has a business class that has positioned itself between foreign capital and the resources of the state. It is the ability of a sovereign state to set its own MUP_CoulterNagle_Printer3.indd 47 24
a little more than half that of the Eurozone average even by 2018.22 With substantial cutbacks in the government’s own investment budget, household deleveraging and sluggish domestic demand which will depress domestic investment the Irish economy will continue to stagnate even if headline national accounts show growth. But even were investment levels to increase – whether through the Government’s capital programme or foreign investment – we still have to contend with another feature of indigenous enterprise which is rarely highlighted: namely, the considerable