The Euro Crisis – An Agenda for Reform

Mr Dukes looks at the euro crisis as a whole, offering first a diagnosis and then a prescription for action which includes: a credible analysis of euro system capabilities, the construction of a ‘wall of money’, a provision for loss funding and sharing that will make sovereign debt positions sustainable on the basis of credible fiscal policy structures, a realistic assessment of actions required to deal with banking system exposures, a strategic review of the shape of banking and financial sector regulation, and a process to assess the need for further Treaty change.

On this basis he evaluates the actions taken at the December European Council and finds them lacking.

Alan Dukes is a former TD and former leader of the Fine Gael party. He has held a number of Cabinet positions in Ireland including Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Finance, Minister for Justice and Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications.  After retiring from politics he served as Director General of the IIEA for a number of years.

He is currently the Chairman of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (formerly Anglo Irish Bank).

This paper forms part of a series of working papers on the euro crisis by leading Irish commentators.