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Updated 12.25pm
ENDA KENNY HAS described marathon talks on a third Greek bailout as “bruising” after a deal was clinched early this morning.
Eurozone leaders reached “unanimous” agreement on a platform to negotiate a third bailout for the debt-stricken country after some 17 hours of talks yesterday and early this morning.
The left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras has agreed to undertake a programme of reforms that will involve passing a number of laws through parliament this week.
Speaking at the conclusion of the emergency summit, a tired-looking Taoiseach told reporters: “I’m glad that a deal has been reached here.
This has been a pretty bruising experience over the last period. But what this allows for is a document that is agreed now that will be the basis for negotiation for a third bailout for Greece, which will allow the Greek economy to thrive and prosper and continue to remain a member of the eurozone.
As well as needing the approval of Greek legislators, the deal will also have to be rubber-stamped by parliaments in Finland and Germany among others, Kenny said.
What’s in this for Greece is the potential to grow their own economy to bring it back to a point of stability where growth investment and jobs can be created and to remain a member of the eurozone, which was the objective of the exercise from the prime minister’s point of view.
Kenny says the as-yet unpublished document begins by setting out the need to rebuild trust between Greece and its creditors after a difficult six months that has seen negotiations breakdown at several points.
“So I welcome the fact that agreement has been reached after an all-night session,” Kenny said.
Reaction on the Irish left
The reaction on the Irish left has been less welcoming this morning with Socialist/Anti-Austerity Alliance TDs tweeting their unhappiness at the actions of Syriza and EU leaders.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams described the treatment of the Greek people as “alarming”.
The conduct of a number of EU governments over the past number of weeks has been alarming. They have effectively closed down the Greek banking system and held the Greek Government and people to ransom.
To its shame the Irish Government took the side of the strong against those in need of support and solidarity. It is obscene for Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil to lecture the Greek people while generations of Irish people will be paying off debts that are not of their making.
The Taoiseach also said the plan to have a €50 billion Greece-based fund that will privatise and manage Greek state assets will see some of this money used for job creation.
Kenny said this had been done in Ireland, where some of the money raised through privatisation of state assets was used for job creation measures.
According to some of the detail of the deal that has emerged this morning, half of the €50 billion will be used to recapitalise Greek banks with the other half going towards “investments” in the Greek economy.
Other reaction
Speaking to reporters in Dublin this morning Tánaiste Joan Burton said she was “relieved” that a deal had been reached this morning.
I believe that it will offer a path for Greece to help, particularly in terms of the humanitarian crisis, building the economy in terms of investment and growth and getting people back to work.
She said she would like to see “normal economic life resume as quickly as possible”.
Burton also insisted that Ireland had been “extremely supportive to Greece” in the negotiations.
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Contrary to the most popular misleading post on an earlier vaccine story that now has locked comments, that falsely stated that 1. “fully vaccinated could still spread the disease ” and 2. this is unlike “all other known vaccines”.
1. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will likely prevent further infections and mass vaccination will likely provide Herd Immunity, ending the Pandemic.
This is because vaccinated people generate 6 to 20 times as many neutralising antibodies as a natural infection. This high degree of immunity, more robust than people who recover from an infection, means people vaccinated will likely not pass on the infection. This is known as Sterilising Immunity. Few vaccines provide Sterilising Immunity.
“A new serological study has found that participants who have received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine have developed 6-20 times more antibodies for the pathogen, Sheba Medical Center said in a statement on Monday.”
“Regev-Yohai also added that people who received both doses of the vaccine will most likely not become carriers of the virus and will not spread it further due to the high level of antibodies.”
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/H1jaK7mkd
2. Most vaccines for other diseases do not provide Sterilising Immunity, most only prevent symptoms.
“In an ideal world, all vaccines would induce sterilising immunity. In reality, it is actually extremely difficult to produce vaccines that stop virus infection altogether. Most vaccines that are in routine use today do not achieve this. For example, vaccines targeting rotavirus, a common cause of diarrhoea in infants, are only capable of preventing severe disease.”
That said, the likelyhood that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines (which is also an nRNA vaccine) provide Sterilising Immunity is a welcome bonus.
@David Jordan: thx phizer vaccine simply isn’t suitable as a mass community vaccine , it’s handling difficulties prevent widespread usage. U.K. is now almost totally using Astra. Which Ireland now can’t get due to EU incompetence.
The irony is the EMA is about to approve a vaccine that won’t be available to most EU countries in any volume now.
@Dave McCabe: That is not true. Israel vaccinated more than 25% of it’s population so far using just the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (41 doses per 100). They are well ahead of the UK:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
They are also seeing excellent results:
“The preliminary results shared by Israeli HMO Maccabi showed that only 20 people out of some 128,600 who received both shots have since been infected with the COVID-19 virus.”
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require very cold storage and so are unsuitable for 3rd world countries, but I don’t think that’s true for developed countries, which Israeli shows.
That said, Johnson & Johnson are a week to two away from revealing the result so their Phase III vaccine trial, for a single dose vaccine that does not need low temperature storage.
“…the vaccine, if successful, is estimated at launch to remain stable for two years at -20 °C and at least three months at 2-8° C.”
@David Jordan: The problem here is of course timing. We will have billions of doses on June, but all want them now. The problem of not being able to exactly predict yields from cultures is real, and is the sort of messy detail that gets overlooked.
I do think the EMA have been very lacking in urgency, and why the richest block in history couldn’t have ensured extra capacity across the 27, even if we never used it is a mystery. We’re they focused on saving money? Striking a good deal?
We appear to have capacity for 400 million doses by June, under the projections. However the Serum Institute in India have been gearing up since last June to produce 1 billion doses by May.
Throwing a billion or two at this project last year would have been smart considering the eye watering g numbers already lost to lockdowns, especially since Oxford was pretty much a sure thing after their MERS and SARS work.
There are a lot of people with a lot of questions about a lot of covid related issues. This is leading to confusion and frustration. Is there no one capable of organising an online forum where these questions can be gathered, answered by experts and indexed so that they can be found whenever needed?
It’s been a year, honestly I feel like at times people want to be confused by the guidelines so they can have a good moan. Then if you post evidence and reputable sources that usuall gets ignored because it doesn’t fit in with the persons narrative.
I find this with alot of articles for example, you have end the lockdown article, people all for ending the lock down whilst beneath it could be an article about how we are using ICU surge capacity to deal with the pandemic, that artical gets ignored by people cause it doesn’t suit their narrative.
You have experts answering questions but then the anti science people will come along and spew their nonsense and provide a link to a very questionable expert.
@Michael Flynn:
What’s Covid questions ? There is loads of data and resources to read if you want answers
@Ally Mc Culladgh:
Actually Ally which “science people “ are you referring , the CMO for example is a “ generalist “. There is very evidence of data based scientific analysis going into Ireland’s actions at present.
Why so long approving this vaccine?
@Hugh Fogerty: There is a competing German one perhaps?
@Hugh Fogerty:
Because the EMA was based in the U.K. and relied heavily on U.K. local resources it had to move to Amsterdam in a hurry , lost expertise and resources and is slowly trying to get up to speed
It’s dysfunctional as a result. The Germans have lost faith and are doing side deals. Expect to see German emergency authorisations next bypassing ema
@Hugh Fogerty: They must be getting early data from the US study for safety.
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/update-rolling-review-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine
This isn’t a Astra production issue. Astra have contracted to provide other countries with product from the Belgian plant. The EU was predicated on timely approval the EMAhas given Astra a contractual get out
Rumour has it Germany has a separate deal with Astra.
Eu has completely screwed up. Ireland will now have to shelve the community vaccine process as it can’t get enough vaccine.
Moderna is tied to the us. Phizer handling prevents it being used in mass vaccinations , Johnson won’t be approved for months
Lockdown in paddy land to continue all through 2021 imho. U.K. at nearly 10% vaccine with full output from Astra U.K. plant. It will begin to permanently reduce restrictions from end of feb. We will look on in envy all summer at our neighbours vaccinating away gaily while we stew in lockdown Not looking could here at all we’re been screwed by eu commissions purchasing incompetence
@Dave McCabe: Cue Paul Furey’s bewilderment as his bedroom view implodes
@Dave McCabe: That’s a bit of a stretch. The EMA have screwed up, no doubt, and are now looking for someone to blame, which will fizzle out as the week progresses. As for the delay, it will cause a delay, not a cessation.
In June Oxford insisted on multiple manufacturers worldwide, with price conditions attached. Worse case scenario we end up throwing money at someone.
In really dire straits we could probably get a supply from the U.K., since it would make sense for them as well, what with a porous border.
@Dave McCabe: regurgitation from brexiteers
Maybe Because the EU took so long to approve the AtraZ vaccine…and still hasn’t done so. So quite possibly, the contract was predicated on approval and fulfilment by a certain date, which the EU has screwed up big time, and now the vaccines are going to countries that have agreed to distribute it.
Why is the news story, carried in the Irish Times, the Examiner, the Guardian etc being glossed over here? Astrazeneca has reneged on its commitment to supply the EU and is exporting over 50% of the EU quota to an unnamed country.
EU backtracking majorly today after it’s attempts to talk tough yesterday. Let’s face it the EMA gambled with its strategy and it at this point has shown it to be well behind the curve.
Would be interested to see if supply distribution was tied to an approval date. All the conspiracy heads need to understand this isn’t a tin pot garage run Amazon shop, it’s a multi billion dollar international behemoth. Suspect AstraZeneca have put them back in their box
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