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Thursday's global agenda: Irish vote is latest Euro test
Your morning global affairs speed-read
Ireland is putting Europe's austerity plans to the test with a national referendum on a Eurozone-wide fiscal treaty that imposes strict limits on government budget deficits and debt. A “no” vote by the Irish would come on the heels of the anti-austerity message cast by voters in France and Greece while marking a limit to how far the Euro countries are willing to integrate their economies in order to save the currency. [The Washington Post]
The referendum comes as the White House is stepping up pressure on European countries to resolve the Euro crisis. President Obama had a video conference with the leaders of Germany, France and Italy ahead of next month's G-20 summit in Mexico and the Treasury Department dispatched its top international relations official for talks in Greece, Germany, Spain and France [The New York Times].
European tour: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Denmark for the first leg of her week-long trip to seven countries. In Copenhagen she's holding bilateral meetings with senior Danish officials and helping start off event for Green Partnerships for Growth, a bilateral initiative to promote green technology through public and private sector partnership, before moving on to Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Take 2: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivers a foreign-affairs speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, raising suspicions that he's looking for a do-over after his first address last month was lambasted in some quarters for hitting isolationist Republicans harder than Democrats.
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