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March 04, 2011 at 07:37 AM
Michael Meister, the deputy parliamentary leader of the Christian Democrat party in Germany, said Friday that if Ireland would raise its corporate tax, Berlin might support a renegotiation of the cost of Dublin’s bailout package.
According to a Reuters report, Meister, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, made the statement while also saying that Ireland’s risk profile would have to be lowered in order to cut interest rates on the bailout. "A small rise in Ireland's lower than average corporate tax rate" might allow the possibility for renegotiation, he said in the report.
On Wednesday Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny, Ireland’s new prime-minister-in-waiting, was reported to be ready to press Merkel on renegotiation of the terms of the rescue package, although Merkel had said that Europe couldn’t "artificially reduce interest rates"; there were benchmarks to be considered, and Ireland couldn’t expect to pay less than Portugal.
