Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-16-Speech-3-024-000"
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"en.20111116.5.3-024-000"2
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".
Mr President, Presidents, ladies and gentlemen, as the example of Italy shows, where risk premiums for government bonds exceeded the critical mark of 7% for a while, the markets are relatively unimpressed by the decisions of the most recent European summit. The next euro area country is already in their sights. The increase in rates in Italy since October is not based on any trends in the real economy, and as the experiences of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain in similar situations show, concentrated remedial measures from the EU and the IMF and the use of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) appear inescapable.
That clearly shows that the measures we have adopted so far to regulate the financial markets do not fully take effect. I fear that, even with the new plans to strengthen the economic governance of the euro area, this will not significantly change. When I think of the package of European Commission measures that you have announced, President Barroso, with the five proposals for increased economic policy coordination, I cannot see the answer to the main question, namely do you have the courage and the ability to regulate the players on the international financial markets in such a way that, in future, speculative activity could be excluded as far as possible? Ecofin’s discussions on the financial transaction tax demonstrate that there is no political will in the Member States even for small steps. The finance ministers continue to answer global challenges with national thinking and proposed solutions based on the interests of their national banks. How big does this crisis have to get, how many countries need to be mired in it, and how big must the sacrifices of the populaces of the countries affected be before people see that we need to act?
You propose, for example, issuing a Green Paper on Euro Stability Bonds. Much as I stress the necessity to introduce Eurobonds, I am astounded by the method. How long do you want to spend talking about the necessary minutiae of the shape to be taken by the mechanism? What effect will the time spent on the discussion process have on the markets? For me, these are the crucial questions.
Instead, the monitoring of the budgets of individual countries is to be tightened up again. It is as if you believed that forcing austerity measures would trigger growth. In reality, however, the most pressing issue is the need for specific measures to improve growth and employment, with the resultant income and thus domestic demand. The austerity measures put in place in the crisis only serve to deepen it. The key economic figures for Greece, Portugal and Ireland for 2010 and 2011 surely show this.
There is one question that, it seems to me, has not been given sufficient consideration, namely how can additional sources of finance be unlocked for these Member States? Their Government revenues need to be increased. Up to now, we have only heard proposals to cut social security payments, wages and pensions, or to increase VAT. The result of this is to stifle consumption by the mass of the population, and the fairness gap between the rich and the poor could become even larger. The citizens, too, can feel this. They do not see themselves as responsible for this crisis, and they are right. They are calling for social equality, including fair taxation. That is why there are mass protests in the Member States where austerity packages have been imposed. That is why there is political instability in the crisis countries, where numerous governments have already been swept aside. If the austerity course were to be made worse, the protests would also grow further. Where does that lead us?
It strikes me that there is a complete lack of taxing the banks, the big corporations and the rich in the Member States. They could make a greater contribution to overcoming the crisis without difficulty. Tangible steps in this direction are required. That would give the citizens the feeling that the pain was being shared more fairly. However, that policy direction must also come from you, from the Commission, the Council, the Euro Group and other international institutions. It has been shown, after all, that the neoliberal mantra of tax cuts and reducing the regulation of market forces led to such terrible distortions that the entire global financial system is in jeopardy. A reorientation of thinking and approach is required here. We need a ban on short-term trading of credit default swaps, on short selling and of other high risk financial products. That is the order of the day."@en1
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