THE EUROPEAN Commission is on the road these days, selling the benefits of Europe and the new fiscal compact.

The commission representation in Ireland has organised a series of public information seminars around the country, the second of which took place in Athlone Institute of Technology on Tuesday night.

There’s a nice hint of the hard sell about the subject matter of these seminars: “European Economic Policy – What’s in it for Ireland?” About 100 members of the public attended.

Among the speakers were journalist Brendan Keenan and tax expert Suzanne Kelly, who, we hasten to add, are not part of any sales team for Europe.

In the course of what we hear was “a riveting session” about the state of the Irish economy, a number of the speakers had strong things to say about how previous administrations managed our business and how their policies landed us in this mess.

Meanwhile, Barbara Nolan, head of the representation in Ireland, said the new treaty was designed to strengthen economic and monetary union and ensure mistakes by governments in the past were not repeated.

Nigel Nagarajan, Ireland’s troika representative in residence, said the financial assistance provided to Ireland was to help cushion the impact of the shock suffered by the economy.

Nagarajan did a double-take, along with others at the top table, when they realised that former taoiseach Brian Cowen was sitting in the back of the hall.

We understand that while invitations were sent to political figures in the region, the organisers were not expecting to see Cowen. The former taoiseach and minister for finance listened to the contributions (which must have been difficult for him) and stayed for the question-and- answer session that followed, but he didn’t contribute.

Our man in the Earl of Rosse lecture theatre on the night tells us that Cowen looked fit and trim. He has apparently lost two stone in weight since leaving politics.

Three more seminars will be held in the coming weeks in Athlone, Sligo and Limerick.