The European Tribune is a forum for thoughtful dialogue of European and international issues. You are invited to post comments and your own articles.
Please REGISTER to post.
Nevertheless the issue of sustainability remains: If the Irish economy goes into a death spiral in consequence of 4 austerity budgets in a row then default becomes unavoidable no matter how undesirable it may be.
No matter how you "package" it, we need a "stimulus" plan to complement the austerity measures and whilst I have no difficulty in cutting bloated salaries of senior politicians/civil servants and some appallingly inefficient administrative overheads the solution cannot be public expenditure cuts alone.
A rebalancing of the EU intervention - away from the ECB as the sole intervening institution - towards more active engagement by the Commission/Council supporting investment in infrastructural or green energy projects - in line with the Lisbon competitiveness agenda - and which could be funded by interest payments or regional/cohesion funds - would go along way to reducing the noxious effects of austerity and risks of default.
We have got to move away from the ECB being almost the sole EU institution involved in economic development - and return it to its proper, and much more limited role as a monetory authority and regulator - and tell it to do its own business better - i.e. regulate banks and hedge funds much more effectively.
It is the absence of an EU political vision and action programme that is the most striking since Merkel's rise. It is almost as if the British eurosceptics have been replaced by Germans, and the other 20 odd members have gone AWOL. Index of Frank's Diaries
The desperation to lock in the successor governments doesn't make any sense otherwise.
we need a "stimulus" plan to complement the austerity measures
How about increasing the capital budget whilst reducing the current expenditure budget? At the moment everything is being cut to bits. Shifting resources from less productive to more productive activities is what businesses do all the time. Infrastructural and other investments which increase future productive capacity and reduce future operational costs (incl carbon energy inputs) should be a priority even Merkel wouldn't have a problem with. Index of Frank's Diaries
by gmoke - Jul 4
by Oui - Jul 3 1 comment
by Oui - Jun 30 26 comments
by IdiotSavant - Jun 24 16 comments
by Oui - Jun 25 51 comments
by IdiotSavant - Jun 16 16 comments
by Frank Schnittger - Jun 15 14 comments
by Oui - Jul 6
by Oui - Jul 68 comments
by Oui - Jul 55 comments
by Oui - Jul 3
by Oui - Jul 31 comment
by gmoke - Jul 2
by Oui - Jun 3026 comments
by Oui - Jun 302 comments
by Oui - Jun 297 comments
by Oui - Jun 2736 comments
by Oui - Jun 2551 comments
by IdiotSavant - Jun 2416 comments
by Oui - Jun 2310 comments
by Oui - Jun 2313 comments
by gmoke - Jun 22
by Oui - Jun 20
by Oui - Jun 1916 comments
by asdf - Jun 184 comments
by Oui - Jun 184 comments