New Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny held up a summit of leaders as he fought with eurozone partners in the early hours of Saturday to renegotiate the terms of his country's bailout, sources said. As the eurozone struggled to agree a lasting solution to a debt crisis that has forced Greece and Ireland to seek bailouts, Kenny's reluctance to compromise over Dublin's low corporate tax policy was leading to "difficult discussions," diplomats said.
"The Taoiseach (prime minister) has certainly been putting forward the new government's position," said one. "Ireland is the centre of attention," said another. Kenny won a February 25 general election in Ireland pledging to renegotiate what voters saw as the punitive terms of the debt rescue plan agreed in December.
He called for a reduction in the average 5.8-percent interest rate Ireland has to pay for 67.5 billion euros of international loans and a lengthening, by seven years, of the repayment term, diplomats said. But the negotiations hit stalemate as eurozone paymaster Germany sought to extract concessions on Dublin's favourable corporate tax regime. An additional complication is that Finland, a hardline eurozone state facing elections on April 17, will move into caretaker government territory on Tuesday.