Brussels, 07/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Backed by a majority at the European Parliament (EP), the conservative and liberal vision of economic policy has won the day over the left-wing fight against excessive austerity.
Adopting its position on the annual growth assessment - that marks the beginning of the “European Semester” budgetary process (see EUROPE 10780) - by a slim majority (329 votes to 271, with 13 abstentions), the EP supports the European Commission's approach calling for continued budgetary consolidation, swifter structural reforms and the launch of targeted investment. It rejects the amendments of the S&D Group recommending that the objectives for reducing public deficit be made less stringent and calling on the Commission to review its models allowing for the impact of austerity on the economies to be measured. The same fate was met by the amendment by the Greens/EFA Group, which called for the creation of a sinking fund for the eurozone's excessive debt.
Describing the attitude of the conservatives and liberals as “totally irresponsible”, Elisa Ferreira (S&D, Portugal) withdrew her name from the report. In her view, moderation of budgetary consolidation in respect of the new rules of the Stability Pact would allow €80 billion to be released in 2013 for investment. “Trying to boost sustainable growth without a sound management of public finances would be like building a house on water lilies. Member states should spare no effort to increase sustainability and balance in their public finances. In a globalised world, increasing EU competitiveness through structural reforms is also crucial”, retorted Jean-Paul Gauzès (EPP, France). (MB/transl.jl)