European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek has said the majority of
his parliamentary colleagues support a reduction in the interest rate on
Ireland's bailout loan.

Mr Buzek said the European Parliament had discussed the issue on a number of occasions. He was speaking after meeting Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton at Government Buildings this morning.

"We surely support renegotiation of the interest rate and reduction of it. So you could have support from my colleagues, at least a big majority of them from European parliament. It's very important." Mr Buzek insisted "tremendous goodwill" remained towards Ireland in the
European Union. "I feel it," he added. Mr Buzek said he wanted to underline his belief that there was no crisis in the Eurozone but rather "some financial instabilities" in certain member states and the problem should be solved by solidarity and loans with interest rates that were
not too high.

The European Union should aim for a more integrated economy, he said.

"It's not enough to have our monetary union, we need economic union." He said he brought a message of support and praise for the "deep and difficult" reforms that the Irish Government and citizens were undertaking. He knew from his own experience that reforms were tough, but he was sure prosperity and growth would result.

Later, during a meeting with the Oireachtas committee on European Affairs, Mr Buzek said "such hardship" was necessary to overcome a crisis that he said had been "imported into the European Union".

"It is our common responsibility and we would like to survive this all together," he added.

During the meeting, Independent TD Mick Wallace told Mr Buzek that it seemed "looking after the markets was of greater concern than looking after the citizens of Europe."

Mr Buzek also said Ireland was well prepared for its upcoming presidency of the European Union in 18 months'time.