Brussels, 15/02/2012 (Agence Europe) -MEPs are looking for the right balance between austerity policies to clean up public finances and structural reforms which, despite their social cost, will help the economies of the member states on the road to growth and, more importantly, job creation. This is the conclusion of a plenary session debate on the three reports on employment and growth which the EP has adopted ahead of the European Spring Council (see other article).
“Do not overlook the social consequences of poor economic decisions” is the message being sent out to the institutions and governments by Dutch Green Marije Cornelissen. The rapporteur on the relationship between job creation and economic growth wonders whether the objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy, which have been somewhat forgotten about, should be made compulsory. She called for an immediate discussion on ways of reducing certain expenses and investing in areas which create work.
The French MEP Jean-Paul Gauzès (EPP), the rapporteur on growth, agrees with the priorities laid down by the European Commission: - differentiated cleansing of public finances; - budgetary consolidation in line with boosting the real economy; - promotion of sustainable growth, particularly by means of a reinforced coordination of the economic and structural policies; - the fight against unemployment; - the modernisation of administration and the services of general interest. He stresses that the EP should be more involved in drafting European policies and, in particular, with the European semester.
The Parliament agrees not to change the guidelines for the employment policies, but it is calling for them to be effectively implemented, said the third rapporteur, French Socialist Pervenche Bérès. Let us face the facts: let us acknowledge that austerity leads to recession, even if it implies that we must “sometimes put paid to the Stability Pact”, she said. According to OECD forecasts, “even the strongest economy of the Union will have a growth rate of just 0.4% in 2012”. The chair of the committee on social affairs of the EP calls on the Commission to “work with the member states so that the budgetary nomenclature makes it possible to verify their contribution to the 2020 strategy”. She went on to call on the Danish Presidency to speed up work on the proposed taxation of financial transactions, Germany having called for the feasibility of a tax of this kind in the eurozone to be looked into.
“Implementation” is the keyword of the Danish Presidency to fight unemployment. Danish Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager welcomed the “fundamental” priorities listed by the Commission in its report: - at national level, budgetary consolidation and structural reforms are required; - at European level, the single market needs to be completed, including some “green” measures. Some people believe that we should wait, she said at the end of the debate, but these measures could create jobs. In particular, Vestager stressed, “we need to be able to work together”.
EU Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor stressed the need to continue budgetary consolidation, but acknowledged that without a strong growth perspective, it would be difficult to get on top of public indebtedness. We must make progress in areas such as the patent and telecommunications. He agrees with the emphasis laid by the EP rapporteurs on fighting youth unemployment, with teams from the Commission to visit several countries (Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia) to identify areas of solutions to this plague (e.g. targeted intervention of the structural funds). The inclusion strategy will not be forgotten, the commissioner promised. In order to help the member states in their efforts to promote employment, the Commission will present a specific employment package in April. It will identify a few potential “sources of quality jobs” (health, IT) for young people in particular. We need to do something to help businesses, said Andor, and the banks should also play a positive role in this.
Unemployment is the number-one challenge for the MEPs. Jan Kozlowski (EPP, Poland) called for an in-depth analysis of the national plans for employment and recommends a raft of measures for young people (e.g: aid to starting up their own businesses). Enough of talking! Europe is losing its competitiveness, there is flagrant asymmetry, with Germany accumulating surpluses and other countries becoming unsustainably indebted, protested Elisa Ferreira (S&D, Portugal). Discipline is needed, but “recessive policies are not the answer”, she concluded. Marian Harkan (ALDE, Ireland) takes the view that certain countries in surplus should help to balance the situation of others. “Annual growth examination. The word is fairly poorly chosen”, joked Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium), although the Commission's growth examination for 2012 is better than the 2011 one, as it drew attention to the negative social effects of certain economic measures. He feels that the exercise should be converted into a “legislative act” endorsed by the Council and the EP, “to give the Commission the necessary democratic legitimacy to apply the measures”. The ECR approves of any measure which will help to bring down unemployment, said the Czech MEP Milan Cabrnoch. Mara Bizzotto (EFD, Italy) deplores waste, such as the plenary sessions held in Strasbourg. 23 million unemployed, 23 million SMEs, 23 billion in unused funds, said Philippe Boulland (EPP, France), who dreams of a “2323 strategy” inspired by measures based on the flexicurity which has produced results in Denmark and the Netherlands. (LG/MB/transl.fl)