The recent EU Summit was not the much-hyped "breakthrough that opened up a way out of the crisis", GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer told the European Parliament today.

"The EU, the Member States, and the Eurozone remain in crisis because priorities have not changed. We stick to the failed programmes of neoliberal deregulation, the privatization of public services and goods, and social security cuts."

"The pact for growth and employment that was announced is vague and lacks targets. We are told 120 billion is 'available' but crucial questions on how it is to be spent remain unanswered. Similarly, an effective financial transactions tax will be a long time coming".

"Even in the wake of election campaigns and elections in Greece and France, those in government have not faced up to the necessity of strict regulatory measures on the financial sector", Zimmer added, saying that we have the Greek population, and Syriza to thank for helping to dent an unworkable German austerity policy. "I am now waiting for an urgent re-negotiation of the memorandum between the Troika and the Greek government."

Zimmer said the French idea to use 1% of GNI for the jobs pact seemed interesting until Angela Merkel stressed that it should go above all to fund public-private partnerships. "What they're selling as an employment programme is just another way to deliver profits from the public to the private sector".

"Critically, what I see as one of the most effective measures to prevent speculation on sovereign debt - making the ECB the 'lender of last resort' - was overlooked in what turned out to be an unsatisfactory Summit" Zimmer concluded.

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:

David Lundy +32 485 50 58 12

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

david.lundy@europarl.europa.eu

gabrielle.kavanagh@europarl.europa.eu

European United Left / Nordic Green Left

European Parliamentary Group

www.guengl.eu