Bloomberg Editors (2014) “Europe’s Deadly Fiscal Paralysis“, Bloomberg View, 31 Οκτωβρίου.
Quarrels over European Union budget policy don’t amount to much in themselves. Yet they demonstrate a pathology whose importance is hard to exaggerate. If growth in the euro area is not restored, the future of the union itself will be in jeopardy. Instead of grappling with this, however, Europe’s leaders are endlessly engaged with trivialities.
Anti-EU sentiment has become so pronounced that Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an “in or out” referendum on U.K. membership if his party wins next year’s general election. So last week, when the European Commission told the U.K. to promptly pay an extra 1.7 billion pounds to make a good on a newly assessed shortfall in earlier budget contributions, the timing wasn’t ideal. Cameron declared himself “downright angry.”
Separately, France and Italy have come under pressure to tighten their fiscal policies to comply with EU rules. Both countries are suffering from stalling economic activity and are struggling to keep earlier promises to get budget deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product. Their latest plans, first rejected, have been tweaked and resubmitted, and the commission says they now might be all right. A final decision is due by the end of November.
The U.K. case is the simplest: Cameron ought to grit his teeth and pay up. The rules on EU budget contributions are sensible and straightforward. Contributions are tied by formula to income, as they should be, and the extra payment is owed because statistical revisions have altered the assessment of U.K. national income over the past 12 years. It should not have come as a great surprise. That’s that.
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Mody, A. (2014) “Are the Eurozone’s fiscal rules dying? – if so: good riddance“, Bruegel Institute, 28 Οκτωβρίου.
- Afonso, A., Zartaloudis, S. & Papadopoulos, Y. (2014) “How party linkages shape austerity politics: clientelism and fiscal adjustment in Greece and Portugal during the eurozone crisis“, Journal of European Public Policy, 29 Οκτωβρίου.
- Wolff, B. G. (2014) “Europe’s fiscal wormhole – with all of the rules pointing toward recession, how can Europe boost recovery?“, Project Syndicate, 24 Οκτωβρίου.