Just as happened during the spring, socialists were proven right on the direction needed to fight the economic crisis. PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen stated; “We welcome the current momentum for the creation of a European Debt Agency*. Unfortunately, much like it was the case last spring, conservatives’ u-turn tactics and constant delay, are penalising the EU and making peripheral countries even more vulnerable.”

Since the speculative attacks on Greece, the PES has advocated that the EU must get ahead of the crisis.

“Once again conservatives underestimated the need of a coordinated answer; and though an European agency starts to make it into the agenda, we are still short of a comprehensive European response to the crisis. The current conservative leadership of the EU lacks both substance and style. We need real macro-economic coordination and genuine EU decision-making”, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said.

“The way this new Agency will function must be decided by all EU leaders and cannot be dictated by Berlin and Paris. This is a crucial moment for Europe which requires a genuine engagement of all countries and cannot be hijacked by a few of them”, PES President added.

During the past nine months European Socialists been proven to have the right solutions for the crisis; investment, solidarity and responsibility must replace austerity-only and punishment-based policies. The measures imposed by the conservatives have only weakened the EU and raised the number of unemployed to 23 million. We need a vision for recovery based on protecting existing jobs and creating new ones.

Background

On December 6, the Eurogroup President, Jean-Claude Juncker and Italian Economy and Finance Minister Guilio Tremonti published a joint article on the Financial Times calling for a European Debt Agency. This idea had long been advocated by the PES.

On Tuesday 7, the ECOFIN Council will meet to debate, legislative proposals for strengthening economic governance and Bank levies, among other topics.

The PES adopted at its Council last week a paper calling for a European Stability Agency (also known as "European Debt Agency"), which would issue Eurobonds

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For further details, please contact:
Brian Synnott - Mobile: +32 474 98 96 75 - brian.synnott@pes.org