Ireland’s noonan welcomes new sarkozy-merkel initiative

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he welcomes an initiative by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to shore up the euro.

While Merkel and Sarkozy proposed debt limits to be written into national laws, Noonan said today “any proposal for a constitutional amendment is a matter for government consideration.”

“While I note that French and German finance ministers will table a joint proposal at the EU level next September for a tax on financial transactions, this issue was considered at last European council meeting and was not included in the final agreement,” Noonan said in comments e-mailed by a finance ministry spokeswoman.