Austerity measures in Member States
10.3.2015
Question for written answer E-003825-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Ivan Jakovčić (ALDE)
After several years of austerity measures in the EU through balancing budget revenues and expenditures and reducing public debt in order to boost economic growth and employment, the results are highly questionable. Because of the austerity measures the public sector has a limited impact on demand, and the private sector has reduced investment due to economic uncertainty. Citizens consume less due to unemployment and reduced purchasing power. In many EU countries unemployment has risen and economic growth is lower than before the crisis. Some Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences have also spoken out critically about this.
The new European Commission has started out with a great idea, and plans to launch economic growth through new investments that should be generated through the European Fund for Strategic Investment.
Since in this sense I welcome the Juncker plan but also regard it as insufficient if, at the same time, we do not relax the measures compelling states to strictly adhere to the rules on deficit and public debt, I ask the Commission:
- —Is it preparing measures to launch economic growth and the creation of new jobs in a way that changes the criteria obliging Member States to austerity measures which, with some exceptions, have so far only exacerbated the macroeconomic situation in Member States?
- —How does it propose to change these criteria relating to austerity measures?