 |
East Midlands Liberal DemocratsBill Newton Dunn and the Liberal Democrats - working for you across the East Midlands |
 |
Summary: European Movement debate on the state of the eurozone
January 31, 2012 9:53 AM
Originally published by Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG)
Originally published by Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG)
On the 27th January 2012, The European movement held a panel discussion to debate the state of the eurozone and what we are to expect from the 30 January EU summit.
Panellists Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, and Julian Callow, Managing Director and Chief Economist of Barclays Capital, discussed and debated a whole host of issues ranging from what will be on the table at the summit to what the future has for the eurozone and the EU as a whole.
Below you can find some of the key points made by the panellists.
Sharon Bowles MEP:
- EU missed final opportunity to save Greece last June. Default is now inevitable.
- Eurozone crisis has damaged reputation of EU abroad.
- Latest legislation to resolve the crisis is verging on being unreasonably intrusive into domestic government policy.
- Little confidence in European Parliament that new treaty will work.
- Prospect of two-speed Europe poses real threat to the role of the European Parliament and Commission in setting policy.
- Germany must accept culpability for allowing its banks to lend irresponsibly to southern Europe.
- Political will to save the euro does still exist across the board.
Charles Grant:
- Agrees with George Soros that austerity is driving EU to destruction. Cutting spending and expecting growth to automatically return has no evidence to support it.
- Germany's stance has made the crisis worse.
- Surveys since the inception of the Union show that popular support for the EU is dependent on continued economic growth.
- Greece's problems are different from the rest of the eurozone's and doesn't belong in the eurozone.
- Two-speed Europe will weaken EU institutions and further marginalise an already semi-detached Britain.
- The emergence of a 'Greater Germany', centred around Berlin and comprising the Low Countries and Scandinavia, has taken control of decision making in the EU and has made France less relevant.
Julian Callow:
- Financial institutions already making contingency plans for collapse of the euro.
- Markets worried about leaders' lack of decisive action.
- Debt crisis so serious that there is no alternative but to drastically cut spending.
- Survival of the euro is dependent on greater fiscal transfers from the rich north to the poorer south. Net contributors to the EU budget currently transfer no more than 1% of their wealth to net beneficiaries, compared with 5% in the United States of America.
- Deep concern that Portugal today is where Greece was a year ago and that it is ultimately headed in the same direction.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats