Does Ireland favour a euro zone of fiscal prudence or federalised extravagance?

The official reappointment of Paschal Donohoe as president of the eurogroup on December 5th means that Ireland will be disproportionately represented in future euro zone discussions. Yet, the Irish focus on successfully squeezing Donohoe and Michael McGrath around the same table in Brussels risks distracting Dublin from the much more important economic challenge ahead.

Namely, the coming battle between the European Commission and euro-zone members on the future governance of the single currency area. Because while inflation and Ukraine may continue to dominate newsfeeds, it is the soon-to-erupt turf war over the running of the euro that has the potential to return the EU to the bad old days of Greek- (and Irish-) flavoured crises.

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