New irish leader to renegotiate bailout

Enda Kenny will push for the quick formation of an Irish government and the re-negotiation of an international bailout after what he called a “democratic revolution” reshaped the nation’s political landscape. Kenny’s Fine Gael party will open contacts this morning on forming a new government, lawmaker Alan Shatter said.

The Feb. 25 election left Kenny in a position to form an administration with Labour or independent lawmakers after the ruling Fianna Fail party suffered its worst ever defeat. “We must have a stable government,” Shatter said in an interview with Dublin-based broadcaster RTE today. Labour is “part of the picture.”

Kenny, 59, will fly to Helsinki on March 4 to meet leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a gathering of the European People’s Party. Kenny said on broadcaster RTE that he will start the process of reopening the terms of the bailout Ireland received last year from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. He’s seeking to lower the 5.8 percent interest rate on aid loans and end the protection of senior bank bondholders.

“We can count on a good match forthcoming with Germany and France in one corner and Ireland in the other as a Battle Royale gets played out in front of a worldwide audience,” Mark Grant, managing director at Southwest Securities Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said in an e-mail yesterday.

Source: Bloomberg