The Irish cabinet meets today to discuss the 4 year, 15 billion euro cut in expenses, in order to show that the government is active and serious about cuts, before such plans are imposed by foreigners. After they sign it off today, it will be published on Tuesday.
The IMF / EU delegation is “sitting” on the Irish banks and checking out the books. The deepening debts have made them unreliable – they update the numbers each time.
Regarding the 12.5% corporate tax, French president Sarkozy said that raising it isn’t a condition – but he sure put it on the table….
Other foreigners, US president Barack Obama, José Manuel Barroso and European Council president Herman Van Rompuy will all meet in Brussels later today.
In the meantime, pressure mounts on the Irish government from all sides – opposition parties are calling for general elections, immediately, and union leaders warn of serious trouble on the streets. The Irish people have been amazingly quiet, but this might end on November 27th, when a big protest is expected.
More on Irish troubles in this article at the Irish Times. Gerry Davies at Forex Live reports about a new estimation of the size of this package – 120 billion euros. More EUR USD pressure is expected.