Today the meeting of EU finance ministers reminded me this week’s discussion subject in our Humphrey Seminar which was pride. Is pride good thing or bad thing? I believe it totally depends on the situation. This year Ireland’s public deficit is estimated to reach about 30 percent of its GDP. According to the European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact’ the member countries’ public deficit is supposed to below 3% of their GDP! On 16th of November the EU Economy and Finance ministers tried to convince Ireland to ask for a bailout. However Ireland says that the government is “fully-funded” till mid 2011 and if necessary, only the banking system would need some help.
Is Ireland too proud to accept any bailout! Sometimes pride could be bad or good. But sometimes you may loose more than you supposed in some cases. Ireland’s move has lots of risks. especially in today’s global world, Ireland does not only risk himself but it also cause a risk in all Euro Area economy. We need some more time to see the result…
Serpil Atalay
We have faced the same problem in Pakistan during the earthquake of 2005 and floods of 2007. Our government, in spite of being in urgent need of assistance, refused to accept international support saying that we were capable of dealing with the issue alone. The outcome is that five years down the line, the victims of the earthquake and the flood have not been rehabilitated yet.
I think this kid of pride is really bad.
Thank very much Dear Malik, what you have mentioned is unacceptable. Dirty politics…even at such an important issue(talking about Pakistan) people just think about themselves…they cannot face with the real situation!