Fazi, Τ. (2014) “It’s Time To Stand Up To Troika Austerity (Part II)“, Social Europe Journal, 19 Ιουνίου.
In the first part of this article I looked at the mounting evidence against austerity by organisations as varied as Caritas, the ILO, the Council of Europe and the IMF. So why is the European establishment pushing for more of the same?
Social and economic misery and despair, growing inequality, dwindling public services, loss of hope and ballooning debts: this is austerity’s scorched-earth legacy. And yet, in a telling demonstration of the extent of their dangerous ideological fanaticism, Europe’s austerity zealots insist that Europe needs ‘more austerity’.
Take Olli Rehn, the infamous Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, who recently stated that rigour and austerity are working and must not be abandoned, and on the contrary should become part of the agenda of all the governments of the EU and eurozone. Unsurprisingly, a similar degree of ‘crisis denialism’ informs most of the Commission’s documents, such as the latest round of ‘country-specific recommendations’ (part of the EC’s Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure). In it, the Commission paints a fairytale-like picture of Europe which bears little or no resemblance to the bleak reality hitherto described: one in which ‘financial stability is returning’ and ‘the rise in public debt is being controlled’; in which ‘the EU is moving […] towards a more sustainable growth path that will generate jobs and improve standards of living’; in which even Greece has ‘stabilised’ its situation and is on the way to recovery; and in which ‘all economies are expected to be growing again’ by 2015 (on the Commission’s tendency to always over-estimate potential growth variables see here).
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Wolff, G., De Sousa, C., Sapir, An., and Terzi, Al., (2014) “The Troika and financial assistance in the euro area: successes and failures“, Bruegel, 19 Φεβρουαρίου.
- Pisani-Ferry, J. (2013) “Europe’s Troika Should Grow Up“,Project Syndicate Organisation, 27 Μαΐου .
- Argitis, G. (2012) “Greece: Caught Fast in the Troika’s Austerity Trap“, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Δεκέμβριος.