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LONDON — Irish voters went to the polls Thursday to decidewhether to ratify a treaty aimed at controlling the runawaydeficits of European Union countries. The referendum, whose results are expected Friday night, comes asworry about Spain's economy continued to roil markets worldwide. Spanish stocksrecovered some of their losses Thursday after slumping to nine-yearlows a day earlier. The euro lost ground against the dollar, andoil prices fell, all on fear that Madrid will need internationalhelp to rescue its ailing banks. The German-backed fiscal treaty calls on countries to limitspending and stick to budgetary targets. It aims to coordinate EUfiscal and budget policies and hold annual structural deficitswithin 0.5% of gross domestic product, with bailout funds from theso-called European Stability Mechanism available to those that ratify the treaty. Fines are to be imposed on those that fail to comply with debttargets. Ireland is the only country to put the EU plan to a public vote. Irishconstitutional law requires public approval for major reforms. Of the 27 EU nations, Britain and the Czech Republic have opted out of the treaty, which must be ratified by 12 of the17 states in the Eurozone — the bloc that shares the eurocurrency — by March. So far, Romania, Slovenia, Portugal and Greece have approved it. Polls indicate that the treaty, which would result in moreausterity and continued access to rescue funds, will pass. ButIreland has had a quixotic record on EU treaties. Two previous referendums — on EU expansion in 2001 and on amore streamlined EU administration in 2008 — were rejected byIrish voters, then accepted in a second vote after amendments. Thistime there will be no second vote for Ireland. The nation's economy was saved in 2010 by a massive Europeanbailout of $108 billion. In a last appeal before the balloting, Prime Minister Enda Kenny urged Ireland's 3.1 million voters to "vote yes on Thursday, yesto stability, yes to investment," and give greater credibility toIreland when it takes over the EU presidency in January. Fierce criticism of the measure has come from the Sinn Feinopposition party, once the political arm of the outlawed IrishRepublican Army revolutionaries in the British province of NorthernIreland but now a legitimate and popular left-wing force in theprovince and in Ireland. Party leader Gerry Adams told voters not to give up their say over Irish economic policyand "not to write austerity into the constitution." In Spain, meanwhile, economic uncertainty continued to fester. Aspokesman for the European Commission, the EU's executive body,told Spanish national radio that Spain needed to speak upimmediately if it needed outside aid. Madrid is reportedly more than $12 billion short on funds to bailout Bankia, the country's largest real estate lender. Thegovernment has said it will devote $24 billion in taxpayer money toprop up the bank. Unconventional plans to use treasury bonds orother assets to rescue it have been nixed by the European CentralBank. The interest rate on Spain's benchmark 10-year bonds brushed 6.7%on secondary markets, just shy of the 7% mark that sent Greece,Ireland and Portugal into bailouts. Those rising bond yields, along with a previously unannounced tripby a top Spanish official to Washington, fueled fear that a bailoutmight be imminent. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamariaflew to Washington late Wednesday to meet with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde , a visit the Spanish government announced only after she had left. An IMF spokesman in Washington said Saenz de Santamaria's meetingwith Lagarde, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, did not signifytalks with Spain over possible financial assistance. Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, spokeThursday to the European Parliament in Brussels, where he said the euro currency framework that wasset up in 1999 was no longer sustainable to manage the debts thattoo many Eurozone governments had allowed to escalate. The ECB is no longer able to "fill the vacuum of the lack of actionby national governments," Draghi said, warning European leaders totake a longer view of debt-reduction strategies. Rising Eurozonedebt needs greater central governance, particularly withrecapitalization of failing banks, he said. Governments tend to underestimate final bank losses, Draghi said."There is a first assessment, then a second, a third, a fourth… the worst possible way of doing things. Everyone ends updoing the right thing, but at the highest cost. "Bankia and other cases show that decisions on recapitalization areprobably simpler to manage if the decision is more centralized," hesaid, recommending that recapitalization be done not by nationalgovernments but by the European Stability Mechanism, the new EUrescue fund. "The issue is not so much if ESM money could be used torecapitalize banks, but whether this could be done directly withouthaving to go through governments," he said. Stobart is a news assistant in The Times' London bureau. Special correspondent Lauren Frayer in Madrid contributed to thisreport. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Ultrasound Cavitation Slimming Machine Manufacturer , China Skin Hair Analyzer, and more. For more , please visit Vacuum Slimming Machine today!
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