The European Commission has defended its role in the Irish bailout in 2011, insisting it “stood by Ireland throughout the crisis”.
The comment was in response to criticism of the EU on Wednesday from former taoiseach Brian Cowen, who claimed the European authorities had forced Ireland into “inappropriate decisions such as protecting international bondholders”.
Speaking as he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the National University of Ireland, Mr Cowen said the EU displayed a “lack of solidarity with small countries who were in difficulty” during the financial crisis and that the property crash in Ireland, Spain and Portugal “was in part fuelled by an inappropriate euro currency system”.
A commission spokesman said on Thursday that it had stood by Ireland throughout the crisis.
“Thanks to the efforts of the Irish people and the support provided by Europe and the IMF [International Monetary Fund] through the programme, the Irish economy has turned a corner,” he said.
“The Irish programme met its objectives of restoring the country’s market access, lowering unemployment and returning economic growth. Indeed, since exiting the programme, Ireland has recorded one of the highest growth rates in the EU.”
“It is important to note that the Irish programme was among the first. The financial crisis was unprecedented and the institutions faced a steep learning curve.”
He has seldom spoken of his time in government during the most intense period of the financial crisis
The spokesman said that in response to a European Court of Auditors’ report on assistance programmes last year, the commission had reaffirmed its commitment to “building on experience and further improving processes and practices going forward”.
Mr Cowen was taoiseach from May 2008 to March 2011, when he retired from politics following the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Green government in disarray after the bailout and the arrival of the EU-ECB-IMF troika.
He has seldom spoken of his time in government during the most intense period of the financial crisis, but gave a comprehensive defence and explanation of the actions of the coalition in the course of a lengthy speech during the conferring in Dublin.
The former Fianna Fáil leader expressed regret for the loss of employment suffered by so many people during the recession, which he described as “the greatest hardship of the recession”.
He said that his government took the “required action” to stabilise the public finances in the full knowledge of the political consequences.
