Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-27-Speech-4-068-000"
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"en.20111027.6.4-068-000"2
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"Mr President, in some respect these conclusions are quite surreal. They start with the Council congratulating itself for having taken unprecedented steps to combat the effects of the financial crisis. The fact is that it has been forced to take unprecedented steps, but always too little and too late – forced to do so by nervous markets because of its uncertainty and hesitation. The conclusions go on to talk about our ‘ambitious agenda for growth’, but the truth is we simply do not have an agenda for growth and we certainly do not have one for job creation. We should have, with 23 million people unemployed, but incredibly these conclusions do not even mention unemployment.
It is quite outrageous that the conclusions talk about improving the growth and employment outlook. Just a few weeks ago the Council, with the support of the Liberals and EPP here, was happy to agree an economic governance package without accepting any differentiated treatment of public investment spending. Now it is calling on Member States to focus public spending on growth areas, but there is no real public money available to spend on growth areas in the next few years, what with the collapse in growth rates and the demand that deficits be brought under 3% by 2013.
To make matters worse, the conclusions later say that building on the ‘six pack’, the European Semester and the Europe Plus Pact, euro area Member States will be required to adopt the fiscal rules translating the Stability and Growth Pact deficit and debt rules into national legislation, preferably at a constitutional level by the end of 2012. This is fundamentally anti-democratic; it is a barefaced attempt by the currently dominant Right to permanently embed their austerity agenda into national constitutions; it is an attempted rightwing coup which tries to freeze out alternative ideological approaches to dealing with the crisis.
The budget balance concept is a political concept, and if it becomes embedded in national constitutions it will permanently enshrine a major chunk of rightwing ideology, moving it away from normal democratic processes. It would shift the essence of the Stability and Growth Pact away from political debate and profoundly affect the way that progressive politics can be conceived and pursued at both national and European level.
The other striking thing about these conclusions, mentioned by Martin Schulz, is the total lack of regard for this Parliament. This directly-elected institution should be directly involved in economic governance."@en1
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