Brussels, 01/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - For the leaders of the Party of European Socialists (PES), it is time for the European Council on Thursday and Friday 1-2 March to invest in the European economy and youth. According to the PES, spending cuts, further deregulation of the labour market and liberalisation of the service sector are not the answers. In a letter sent to the president of the European Council, the PES explains: “What Europe needs is a comprehensive, progressive, coordinated investment strategy to enable us to grow out of the crisis. Supply side measures alone are no solution when the biggest obstacle to growth in Europe is lack of demand.”
The PES says that their strategy relies first and foremost on putting in place instruments that would allow the private sector to invest in the renewal of the European economy with the assistance of the European Investment Bank. The funds raised could be combined to finance a European Venture Capital Fund for SMEs, which are struggling to get access to bank funding. In the letter the PES explains: “At the core of our proposal lies the fact that every euro intelligently invested in the real economy will generate a positive return for our economies and national accounts, as well as a positive social return for our citizens”. The PES advocates: - the creation of a tax on financial transactions (with a broad scope); - reforming national tax systems, fighting tax fraud more effectively and harmonising tax policy further at EU level; - phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies and reducing fossil fuel imports (to enlarge the scope for growth-enhancing and job-creating investment by governments); - a fully fledged reform of the EU budget; - supporting the industrial sector more in order to increase exports; - implementing a European Youth Guarantee in order to integrate young people into the labour market; - putting in place the right tools to ensure that sectors with a high growth potential (including renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, the healthcare sector and the social services care sector, as well as internet and communications technology) receive higher public and private investment, while retaining their primary commitment to serving the public interest. (LC/transl.fl)