S&Ds denounce right wing’s short-sightedness on the economy
S&D Group leader Hannes Swoboda today strongly condemned the right wing in the European Parliament for refusing acceptance of a debate concerning the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) underestimation of austerity policies in Europe.
President of the S&D Group Hannes Swoboda said:
„Last week, the IMF openly acknowledged that the austerity policies followed by most EU countries were based on serious miscalculations. Clearly, the IMF has underestimated the strongly negative impact of such programmes on the economy of several EU countries.
„We know that the European Commission is using similar parameters and multipliers for its own economic forecasts, and we now need to understand the extent to which these are equally wrong and the extent to which they are leading towards the wrong economic policy strategy.
„We believe that it is of utmost importance to openly discuss with the European Commission what should now be the implications for its recommendations to EU member states in the framework of its forthcoming Annual Growth Survey.
„This is why we have asked to have such a debate during the plenary session in Strasbourg next week.
„I am really surprised by Guy Verhofstadt’s refusal. This is indeed a regretful and a missed opportunity“.