Ireland: Time for the Celtic rebel

For a few weeks the crisis in the eurozone has faded from view. It has been eclipsed by other events but it never went away. It is now due for a return.

By the end of the month Europe's leaders have promised that a comprehensive deal will emerge to fix the problems with the single currency once and for all. Expect some late nights.

The curtain-raiser for these negotiations is a meeting in Helsinki today. It features Europe's conservative leaders who have gathered in the Finnish capital to talk, but not decide. That will come later.

Even as they float plans on how to prevent Europe's single currency from being buffeted in the future the fact remains that the current debt crisis has not been settled.

Greece and the Republic of Ireland were bailed out and put on a life-support machine. Their debt mountains, however, edge only higher. The day of reckoning may have been delayed, but it hovers on the horizon.

In Ireland the view is that the medicine prescribed by Brussels risks bankrupting the economy.

Among those turning up in Helsinki will be a mild-mannered 59-year-old former teacher. Enda Kenny now has the European stage. He is Ireland's prime minister-in-waiting. He rode to power promising Irish voters that he would renegotiate the Irish bail-out deal. The people found it humiliating. Mr Kenny wants to see the interest rate on the EU part of the deal - currently 5.8% - lowered. He wants the repayment terms lengthened. He also wants some investors (senior bondholders) in the banks to share in the losses.