Brussels, 22/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The S&D Group at the European Parliament wants the official troika of lenders (the European Commission, ECB and IMF) that negotiated the two structural adjustment programmes with Greece, to explain its action to ordinary Europeans, asking who speaks for the European Union on the troika. On Thursday 22 March, Robert Goebbels, the Luxemburg MEP who heads the alternative troika, unveiled the troika's conclusions and answered the question by explaining it was brilliant civil servants who went over to Greece for a week and then introduce radical measures. Goebbels said they must be held to account. MEPs, after all, were elected, but these people were not. The Social Democrats at the European Parliament have managed to get representatives of the official troika to agree to attend a hearing on 27 March organised by the economic and monetary affairs committee and the employment committee. The S&D wants the troika to issue a written report to the European Parliament each quarter on their work.
The S&D believes the austerity measures forced on Greece are not enough on their own to get the country out of a rut. Slashing minimum pay and earnings is not an effective policy, said the chair of the S&D, Austria's Hannes Swoboda. In order to encourage foreign investment, the alternative troika recommends that a non-governmental body be set up in the country along the lines of the Treuhand that oversaw the restructuring of the economy of former East Germany. A Greek agency of this sort could channel the available funding and coordinate recovery in strong-growth areas like farming, shipping, tourism, health care, pharmaceuticals, helping the elderly, energy and education. In addition to absorbing unused EU Structural Funds and the urgent need to recapitalise Greek banks, the S&D believes the EIB could increase its capital by €10 billion in order to borrow ten times more than that from the money markets for projects to stimulate growth in several countries, not just Greece. The party also suggests action to get young people into jobs, following Austria's example. Goebbels hopes that Greece will be able to sign an anti-tax-avoidance deal with Switzerland in 2013 ahead of an EU-wide agreement of this nature. (MB/transl.fl)