Παρασκευή 2 Μαρτίου 2012

Automatic Austerity 10 things you need to know about ’the Fiscal Compact’


ΠΗΓΗ: Corporate Europe
March 2012


ΟΛΟΚΛΗΡΟ ΕΔΩ

On the 1st of March 2012, 25 EU heads of state or government will sign a new treaty
, and if all  goes as planned, it will enter into force early next year. The so called ‘Fiscal Compact’ was 
conceived in next to no time, and had a dramatic start when it was vetoed by the UK at a meeting 
of the European Council on 9 December, preventing a regular change to the EU treaty. Instead, 
governments opted to create a new legal vehicle – which can be adopted more quickly with less
risk of annoying interference from democratic debate and the public; a separate EU-treaty that’s 
not really an EU-treaty.
The treaty is about strengthening the rules to ensure signatory states apply strict budgetary 
policies. Notably, so called ‘structural deficits’ are to stay permanently below a limit of 0.5 % of 
GDP. News of the treaty was applauded by the business community, including the European 
employers’ federation BusinessEurope, but trade unions denounced it emphatically, with the 
European Trade Union Confederation for the first time rejecting a new treaty outright.

Why now?
"This Treaty might reassure Kanzlerin [Chancellor] Merkel’s political friends, but not the millions 
of unemployed, poor or precarious workers in Europe who are waiting for decisive support from 
EU institutions. This is why we are opposed to it,” Bernadette Ségol, the secretary general of 
ETUC said

Most analysts and commentators agree: the treaty is not about the current crisis. It will not 
change the course of the eurocrisis, and is not really intended to do so. It’s about the future of 
economic policy, and the German electorate. Chancellor Angela Merkel needs to reassure the 
German public that she’s being tough with the highly indebted countries to bolster her popularity 
and provide the government with the leeway to co-fund the new European Stability Mechanism –
the fund to provide loans to member states in deep economic trouble. To do this she must ensure 
they stick to a tough austerity programme in return.....

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