Media reaction in Ireland has been predictably positive:
Donohoe's new role puts State at centre of debate over EU's future

Eurogroup presidents become a kind of super finance minister, continuing their duties at home while setting the agenda for discussions with their euro-zone counterparts, chairing the talks, acting as co-ordinator and becoming the public voice of the group in the press conferences that follow the regular meetings.

Outgoing president Mario Centeno described the role of the president as "a co-ordinator, but not a passive one. It is a co-ordinator with an agenda, to strengthen integration and protect the euro."

The power of the role depends upon the ability of the person to wield it. The Eurogroup is largely an informal institution, and comes into its own during crises, when it is forced by circumstance into a decisive position to combat threats to the single currency.

With Donohoe in the role, Ireland now has a constellation of figures in key posts in what could be an era-defining moment in history. With a seat on the United Nations Security Council, commissioner Phil Hogan in the key role of EU trade chief, and even Dr Mike Ryan over at the World Health Organisation, the stage is set for a moment of global Irish influence.

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John Bolton on Trump's presidency: `Every day is a new adventure'

More recently, Bolton accompanied president Trump on his visit to Doonbeg, Co Clare, in 2019. "I don't play golf," he quips, but says it was a beautiful place. He sat in on the meeting with Leo Varadkar and previous St Patrick's Day meetings in the Oval Office. On one occasion, Trump jokingly asked Bolton during a meeting with Varadkar if Ireland was one of the countries he wanted to invade, a dig at Bolton's hawkish credentials.

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"I think the European Union has made Europe less than the sum of its parts. What started out, at least for some, as a free trade idea has gotten transformed into something else," he tells me. "There's no doubt that the Brussels institutions are much more important in a whole range of policy areas than the elected governments of the members of the European Union. I told [the British] at the time, and have said since, the Brexit referendum was like a declaration of independence. The US constitution opens with the words `We the people' - well, that's where sovereignty is vested. `We the people' make the rules that govern us, not a bunch of distant rulers, in this case in Brussels."

In what way is Brussels more distant from Ireland than Arizona is from Washington? States within the EU retain far more sovereignty than US states ever had. And is the EU any more divided than the USA is, at the resent time?

In any case, Bolton is unapologetic in stating that US Foreign Policy is, and should be, about projecting US power ad promoting its interests. So why should we take his comments on (say) Brexit as anything other than part of a divide and conquer strategy to promote US interests? And why would anyone want to cooperate with the US on that basis?

The UK is about to find out what bing a neocolonial client state is all about.

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Belgium helps Ireland to a Brexit boon

Belgium was also key to Ireland's other victory this week. Belgian support was key to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe winning the Eurogroup presidency, giving him a platform and potential to influence that will put Ireland at the heart of debates about the future of the EU in a historic moment of change.

Some had expected Belgium to follow its neighbour France in backing Spanish finance minister Nadia Calvino for the post. However, the Benelux countries voted as a block for Mr Donohoe after the Luxembourg candidate dropped out, turning the tables on a victory Spain had thought was certain and delivering a surprise victory into Dublin's hands.

Among the motivations for Belgium's vote, according to insiders, was the Irish candidate's keen appreciation of the challenge that Brexit poses to states that are geographically close to the UK.

It was a reminder to the EU big four of Germany, Spain, France and Italy that while they are focused on nailing down a generous joint response to the economic damage of coronavirus, the interests of small nations can't be overlooked.

My Spanish contacts are also blaming Malta for not voting for the Spanish Candidate...

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Loved to see him play ... nickname the "Giraffe" ... a towering personality. The Irish stopped by a lucky goal from Wim Kieft in 1988.

Paschal Donohue has reviewed another book:

Paschal Donohoe on The Economics of Belonging: Crisp analysis of discontent Martin Sandbu contends that economic change is the primary cause of political disruption and offers solutions

First, his analysis contends that economic change is the primary cause of political disruption: "Economic grievance expresses itself as cultural or values-driven behaviour. It intensifies or politicises particular values and attitudes, which may have been more or less close to the surface in different individuals but would not have motivated political choice in the absence of economic pressure."

This approach differs from other analysts who discern other roots to recent political changes. This includes Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin in their work National Populism, where they ascribe equal importance to how bonds between voters and traditional political parties have become frayed.

However, this more singular focus facilitates the second important quality in this book: the willingness of the author to suggest solutions, to argue for the kind of changes he believes are necessary.

This is after Sandbu lacerates leaders for "half a century of policy mistakes". These include not adequately supporting workers in the shift from industrial to service-based economies and responding with scale and speed to the Great Financial Crisis.

Leaders have not confronted these failures. The convenient alternative, this book argues, is to blame globalisation for the loss of jobs or decline in living standards. Different strands of global integration are analysed, including immigration, trade and the growth of financial services.

The conclusion is clear, that political choices are at fault, and that policymakers have acquired a "learned helplessness" in the face of forces that they played a role in strengthening. The answer is not the reversal of globalisation, but the creation of more inclusive forms of economic and political integration.

The author concludes that "the West's economies of belonging withered as the consequence not of globalisation but of technological change and more or less wilful domestic policy mismanagement". A policy agenda is argued for that looks to reclaim economic openness as "a positive contribution to the domestic economy of belonging".

This agenda included the development of a universal basic income at the centre of reformed social support systems. Other elements include stronger representation rights for workers and a more radical approach to competition policy. It is possible to deliver protective policies that can also be pro-competitive. "Otherwise, disempowered workers and small businesses cannot challenge and compete with the most powerful actors."

This is accompanied by a very well-argued chapter on budgetary policy. The case is made for using tax and public spending policy to inject higher levels of demand into the economy to combat underemployment and the marginalisation of vulnerable workers. Such a claim resonates with debate now under way about the trade-offs between budgetary policy and employment levels.

This should be allowed to fund an investment strategy that will "turn places of decline into poles of attraction".

There is silence on other policies that are normally included in such an agenda. Little is said on the key topics of redistribution, the future of political and economic integration or the future of education. These are curiously significant omissions given their role in domestic policies.

This book could appear wistfully Blairite, harking back to arguments of an age that is now all too distant and moderate. For this reviewer, that, of course, is praise.

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Technocrats make poor people managers and have no idea what makes society tick. From my own experience at a Dutch multinational with former HQ in the licht city of Eindhoven. An outstanding research engineer needed to be kept within the concern and enticed with a higher salary. Thus he had to be promoted to a position as supervisor overseeing a dozen other technicians. That never quite works out to benefit the group in the long run.

The large tech companies in Silicon Valley put on big trousers in local, state or national discourse on civic and political issues. Big capitalism functions on greed and takes inequality as an unfortunate by-product of modern times. When Hollywood has no ethical and moral views, but feels comfortable with the status quo of violence, police, crime and the military enterprise, one gets a perpetuum with a positive feedback loop that spurts on bad behavior.

A Trump presidency and a political party completely interdependent for election succes, the speeding train will crash in the end.

Complete lacking of leadership is also a result. Even a common goal to save the Planet is too farfetched for busines and political leaders to unite. For decades the trust in politicians in Washington DC hovers around 15% ... a clear indication where corruption reigns and people cling to their overpaid and valued seats. Just a rant as I'm sitting in the back yard enjoying a nice summer day in the City of The Hague. My two cents worth. 😉😄🤣🧗🏿‍♀️🎭

In what ways will  Paschal Donohue be better for Europe as a whole than Nadia Calvino would have been? It seems to me that Calvino's push for more spending is exactly what the EU needs, notwithstanding the 'frugal four'.


"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Women MEPs take aim at male-dominated finance posts

The days of men dominating Europe's top financial institutions may be numbered if a group of women MEPs get their way.

After men prevailed over well-qualified women in this month's contests to run the Eurogroup of finance ministers and the European Banking Authority (EBA), a cross-party group in the European Parliament is channeling its frustration into a push to improve gender parity in future appointments.

"I am disappointed, yes," said Evelyn Regner, an Austrian MEP who led an ultimately failed campaign to block François-Louis Michaud from taking over as executive director of the EBA. After losing an initial vote in the European Parliament's economic and financial committee (ECON), Michaud eventually won last week, with 343 MEPs voting in favor and 296 against.

However, Regner said the backlash at Michaud's appointment has constituted "huge progress" in opening people's eyes to the difficulty of ensuring qualified women are considered for prime jobs, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that "this is an important question linked to good-quality decisions."

For a good account of recent diplomatic victories, see How Ireland gets its way, a recent Economist article.

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For most visitors ... but NOT Americans due to Trump's virus pandemic from coast to coast.

Ireland offers a hundred thousand welcomes - unless you're American | The Guardian |

But that was before Covid-19 turned everything upside down and Americans became objects of suspicion - unwanted interlopers from a country which last week surpassed four million cases.

"It's never a good business model to turn away visitors but this isn't about business," said Noel Keane, a chef who recently barred two groups of Americans from Croí restaurant in Tralee, County Kerry. "From a moral point of view, it's the right thing to do."

The would-be diners admitted they had not self-isolated for 14 days after entering Ireland, compelling a rebuff, said Keane. "I said no. There was no malice. It's certainly not an anti-American sentiment."

Other businesses have followed suit, some openly, others discreetly.

JP McMahon, a chef and owner of Cava Bodega in Galway, started questioning tourists and turning away those that admitted violating quarantine after his staff felt "uncomfortable" serving a group from Texas.