Weeks, J., (2013), “Unemployment in the Eurozone: Alternatives for α Regional Support Program”, Social Europe Journal, 21 Οκτωβρίου.
A few days ago, the Bertelsmann Stiftung hosted a conference in Brussels on “Automatic Stabilizers for the Eurozone” (October 11), with the focus on an EU-wide system of supplemental unemployment benefits. On superficial inspection the conference agenda appeared to involve a technical assessment of policy alternatives, a conference for “policy wonks” to use the slang favored “across the pond”.
However as the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Laszlo Andor, made clear in closing remarks, the task before the participants in the meeting was far more serious and urgent than a debate over the details of a “top-up” benefit system and the automatic “triggers” to activate it. It was my clear impression that for a large minority of the participants the subtext of the meeting was nothing less than the survival of the EU in its present form.
For several years what might be called the official line in the debate over the EU future stressed the need for a rapid movement to a more centralized European Union (the word “federal” and “greater federalism” often used), in which the EU parliament obtained a fiscal authority to complement the monetary authority held by the European Central Bank.
A frequently expressed position by those supporting greater centralization is that it is the only policy that would make the Union sustainable. At the Brussels meeting several participants publicly and privately dismissed proposals for an EU unemployment scheme as half-hearted, diverting discussion from the necessity to strengthen the powers of the Parliament and the Commission.
Σχετικές Αναρτήσεις
- Blanchard, Ο., Jaumotte, F. and Loungani, P., (2013), “Unemployment, labour-market flexibility and IMF advice: Moving beyond mantras”, VoxEU, 18 Οκτωβρίου.
- Tyson, L., (2013), “The quality of jobs: The new normal and the old normal”, The New York Times, Economix Blog, 20 Σεπτεμβρίου.
- Billington, I., (2013), “Euro-Zone Unemployment Unlikely to Fall Quickly”, The Wall Street Journal, The Euro Crisis Blog, 10 Σεπτεμβρίου.