Brussels, 31/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - With the exception of the EPP, the main political groups in the European Parliament (EP) have lambasted the measures to boost growth in the European Union presented on Monday evening at the informal European summit (see EUROPE 10542). From the Left, there is criticism of the priority given to austerity policies through the adoption of the budget pact - the fiscal compact - which requires 25 member states (the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic did not sign up) to incorporate a brake on indebtedness in their national laws. MEPs will meet in plenary session on Wednesday to debate the outcome of the European summit.
“EU leaders have failed in the only area where they could have made concrete progress today. Instead of decisive action they again chose procrastination”, stated group leader Guy Verhofstadt. Slamming the need to wait a further six months for member states to finalise the European patent agreement, he suggests that the court which will hear patent-related disputes be temporarily based in Brussels. Former Belgian prime minister Verhofstadt said it was “deplorable” that the EP had been excluded from the final negotiations on the new fiscal compact, when it had been fully involved and had actively contributed since December and the EP President and Parliament representatives attended the final negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty with the heads of state and government. “This treaty is expedient but nobody can be proud of it”, said UK MEP Andrew Duff.
Rather swimming against the tide, the Christian Democrats, though they would have liked to have seen more, have welcomed the decisions which “will accelerate the resumption of growth in Europe”. They hailed the adoption of the treaty strengthening budget discipline, regretting, however, that two countries decided not to sign. This text, which complements the revised stability pact, the so-called “six-pack”, “will strengthen common discipline in the management of accounts”, according to EPP leader Joseph Daul (France). He argued that the golden rule on the balance of public accounts and the provisions making it easier to impose fines on those governments whose budgets are not balanced “are going entirely in the right direction”. What is needed now, Daul said, is fiscal convergence, then social convergence. He called for the single market to be made a reality, for unused European funds to be re-allocated towards innovation and competitiveness and for eurobonds to be launched at the appropriate moment.
On the Left of the political spectrum, the S&D Group speaks of a failure, furious at the outcome of the European Council. It calls the decisions reached “unbalanced and legally questionable”. For the S&D, the Council failed to address the action that had to be taken in the current economic crisis.
Group leader Hannes Swoboda said that “this treaty is unnecessary” and pointed out that it remained to be seen if it would be ratified, “as François Hollande, probably France's next president, has rightly signalled his willingness to renegotiate the text”. Swoboda argued that the fact that the Fiscal Stability Pact had been negotiated outside the existing EU treaty framework was the wrong approach. “Instead of uniting Europe, this treaty divides Europe into EU27 and EU25. In addition, it is unacceptable that some governments like Sweden could decide not to sign the Initiative on Growth and Jobs”. He was pleased that the Council had taken up some of the proposals the European Socialists and Democrats have been making for many years. “Finally, there has been a recognition of the need to deal with the real problems facing European citizens: the lack of growth and the high unemployment all over Europe”. The S&D Group feels, however, this is an “extremely weak” start. While sanctions can be applied if a member state does not ensure its financial stability, “no sanctions are foreseen if a country fails to implement measures for employment and growth”, Swoboda regretted. He lamented the weakness of measures to tackle youth employment and the lack of concrete action to create jobs.
The European Parliament obtained only a limited role in future negotiations on the Fiscal Stability Pact, to which the Parliament's President “may be invited”. In Swoboda's view: “It is unacceptable to limit the role of the European Parliament in this way”.
The Greens/EFA Group says the fiscal compact is “unnecessary, delivering little new and failing to deliver the necessary crisis response”. The group will now push to ensure the EP takes the initiative on providing a comprehensive response. Group joint leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit said: “Another summit goes by and again Europe's 'leaders' have distinguished themselves by their lack of imagination and serious politics. The two month sideshow surrounding the new fiscal compact has lost us more precious time and we have not moved any closer to resolving the euro crisis. It is time for the EP to take the lead and give Europe's citizens some hope.” Joint leader of the group Rebecca Harms stated that much of the fiscal compact adopted on Monday is already included in the EU's six-pack of economic governance legislation. Meanwhile, the proposals on launching an economic recovery “are vague and merely repeat former commitments”. “There is a real danger that the EU is digging itself deeper into an economic hole, with the continued one-sided preoccupation with fiscal contraction and the absence of counter-cyclical measures to address the root of the crisis and turn the fortunes of eurozone economies around”, Harms said.
The GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament is of the view that the agreement on the fiscal compact “will deepen the crisis and represents the anti-democratic institutionalisation of austerity as default policy”. The group says the treaty will mean drastic cuts and extra pressure on public services and those who depend on them. In introducing conditionality on solidarity among member states, “the agreement abandons the principle of equality between the 27 states and will create divisions which endanger not just the existence of the euro but the EU as a whole”, it says in a press release. The GUE/NGL will seek to reverse what it sees as a “disastrous” policy and it urges EU leaders to start working for growth, employment, democracy and solidarity.
The Left is also dismayed by the lack of any democratic consultation on the text and is calling for it to come to Parliament under normal procedures before being put to the people through referendums and popular consultation. “Unfortunately, EU leaders have chosen a different path, one that our group cannot, and will not, support”, the group states. (MB/LC/transl.rt)