Brussels, 22/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The second Greek rescue plan is crucial but it will not solve the deep-rooted problems in Greece if economic growth is not obtained due to excessive austerity policy. This opinion was expressed by several political groups at the European Parliament, responding to the agreement obtained on Tuesday morning by eurozone finance ministers (see EUROPE 10558). The Greeks will have to apply strict budgetary measures and overhaul their economy in exchange for public financial assistance worth €130 billion, with voluntary participation from the private sector in the partial restructuring of Greek debt above €100 billion.
Speaking of behalf of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul from France said that this agreement would help Greece in its efforts to find the path of stability and restore investor confidence, while acknowledging the huge challenges facing the country. According to Daul, “the bailout programme contains essential elements that will help country's economy to recover and to create better conditions for competitiveness and steady growth”. The leader of the European People's Party, Wilfried Martens, welcomed “the enormous efforts made” by all the different parties involved, namely the Greek government, member states and European institutions, particularly the ECB and the IMF, as well as private investors. This former Belgian prime minister said that the far-reaching measures put an end to uncertainty regarding the financing of Greece. He is convinced that with the second Greek rescue plan, including action by the ECB, they are now on the way to overcoming the debt crisis. He calls on the European Council in spring to complete the budgetary consolidation measures with action to support growth.
The Social Democrats said the Eurogroup agreement was a first step but was not enough to bring long-term solutions to the Greek crisis. Hannes Swoboda from Austria stated: “We welcome the agreement to continue supporting Greece and thus prevent a collapse of the state. But they have failed to address the most important point, namely the need to develop a long-term strategy for relations between Greece and the EU.” The leader of the S&D Group said that “the EU must move away from its one-sided policy of reducing budgets and wages.” In addition to the liberalisation of closed markets, he said that “what we really need is a long-term strategy to foster growth and employment with concrete measures such as a financial transaction tax, credit enhancement for the European Investment Bank and the introduction of eurobonds”.
As an alternative to the European Commission, ECB and IMF troika, three MEPs will be forming their own troika (Elisa Ferreira - Portugal, Robert Goebbels - Luxembourg, and Ivailo Kalfin - Bulgaria) and will be visiting Athens on 4-6 March in an attempt to find some long-term solutions.
The Liberals consider that the Europeans must get to the root cause of the problems and not just treat the symptoms of the crisis. The second Greek bailout “avoids immediate bankruptcy and buys a little more time for the eurozone to agree a comprehensive plan”. The leader of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt from Belgium, stated in a press release published before the end of the Eurogroup meeting that “the IMF/Troika approach is blinkered in attempting to impose an austerity template on Greece that ignores the main problem, namely the bloated size of the state sector”. The former Belgian prime minister said that “squeezing an extra €300m out of supplementary pension schemes is not going to restore Greece's finances (…) The present package of measures focusing so heavily on wage cuts and new taxes is just alienating ordinary Greeks to the EU.” He suggests introducing far-reaching liberalisation of the Greek economy (getting rid of non-productive state bodies and privatisation of the banking sector), as well as reforming the tax system.
The co-leader of the Greens/EFA, Rebecca Harms from Germany, recognised that the agreement reached by the Eurogroup “buys more time but a solution remains out of sight (…) The agreed measures will not solve the debt crisis in Greece, as an internal EU-ECB-IMF paper has underlined, and, combined with the fraught process for agreeing the package, will fail to assuage doubts about the commitment of EU leaders to preserving the integrity of the eurozone.” Harms underlines the importance of launching a clear investment programme in Greece because irresponsible cuts in the country's budget, particularly in the social domain, will be unproductive.
The GUE/NGL stated: “We are all Greeks!” The group bitterly attacked the austerity policy in Greece, which it believes will prolong the crisis. It added: “After yesterday's decision in Brussels, Greece is now under the full control of the IMF-ECB-European Commission troika - in total defiance of all democratic rules.” Nine MEPs from the political group will be in Athens on Thursday to meet social organisations, the unions, civil society and political parties that are resisting the austerity cure being imposed on the Greek population. (MB/transl.fl)