Smith, Y. (2014) “Germany and the European Commission’s €315 Billion Infrastructure “New Deal” is Yet More Smoke and Mirrors“, Naked Capitalism Blog, 26 Νοεμβρίου.
I have to confess I had not taken the announcement of a €315 billion infrastructure spending program by the European Commission all that seriously, despite the fact that this on the surface represented a very serious departure from the Troika’s antipathy for anything resembling fiscal spending. It was so out of character that something had to be wrong with the picture, particularly given the absence of any evidence of Pauline conversions from the Germans. And that’s before you get to the fact that while €315 billion sounds impressive, given that the spending is likely to be spread out over time, the size of the shot, even if it worked as advertised, is less impressive than it might seem.
In fact, the history of post-crisis interventions in the Eurozone has been that of sleight-of-hand over substance, except as far as austerity program are concerned. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard peels away the dissimulation in the latest effort at confidence building, with emphasis on the con. From the Telegraph:
The European Commission has launched a €315bn “New Deal” to pull Europe out of its economic slump over the next three years, but will provide almost no new money of its own and is relying on subprime forms of financial engineering.
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Emmanouilidis, Α. J. & Davis, J. (Ed.) New Pact for Europe: Second Report – Towards a New Pact for Europe, A publication of the King Baudouin Foundation, the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the European Policy Centre (EPC), Οκτώβριος 2014.
- European Policy Centre (2014) “Challenges and New Beginnings: Priorities for the EU’s New Leadership, Challenge Europe, Issue 22, Σεπτέμβριος.
- Derviş, Κ. & Saraceno, F. (2014) “An Investment New Deal for Europe“, Brookings Blog, 03 Σεπτεμβρίου.