We need to do more

“We need to do more”: as a slogan, repeated time and time again, this peremptory invitation formed the leitmotiv of the whole European week, once again concentrated on the recession and on the measures to take to alleviate its damaging effects. The economic crisis dominated the agenda at the meeting of the Eurogroup (Finance Ministers of the 16 countries of the euro) on 9 March, that of Ecofin (Economic Ministers of the 27) on 10 March, and during the plenary of the European Parliament on the following day; it in turn prepared the way for the summit of the heads of state and of government of the Union, due to be held on 19-20 March.Recovery is “deferred”. European ministers warned of the danger the recession is posing to jobs; they warned that between now and 2010 some six million jobs could be lost, a figure almost double that previously estimated by the Commission. At the same time the Executive has had to revise its estimates about when the recovery would take place: according to Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, this would not take place in the second half of 2009, but would “slip to next year”. Of much the same view is the President of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Jean-Claude Trichet. So the situation is fluid. Indeed, the president of the Eurogroup, Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker explained that for the time being “other plans of intervention will not be adopted”, because first “the results of those already decided” need to be verified. On the scale of these plans wide differences of evaluation have been expressed: according to Commission President José Manuel Barroso, “they are quantifiable at around 3.3% of the GDP of the European Union”, whereas other estimates are more conservative, quantifying them “realistically” at between 0.9 and 2% of GDP.Social effects of the crisis. “This crisis is hanging over all of us, and our families, and is leading to the loss of jobs – admitted Barroso, in the European Parliament -. After having tried to intervene on the financial side, we must now urgently consider the social impact of the crisis and its impact on jobs”. The head of the Commission, in his address to the EP, said that the heads of state and of government will have to define during their summit next week “a common position in preparation for the G20 in London”, but “above all will have to analyze the social and political pressures that this crisis is giving rise to”. Barroso listed a series of provisions and regulations in the process of being defined (funds for energy infrastructures, hedge funds, executive salaries…); he then underlined that “the EU budget amounts to less than 1% of [EU] GDP, so it’s obvious that the main financial commitments will have to be made by the individual countries”.Wide-ranging debate. A wide-ranging debate on the economic crisis took place at the EP in Strasbourg. Alexandr Vondra, deputy premier of the Czech government, which now holds the rotating Presidency of the Union, spoke of “unprecedented pressures on our economies” and the “urgent need to revive the credit market” to support markets, businesses and consumers. For his part the head of the People’s Party group in the EP, Joseph Daul, declared: “A stronger, more coordinated and more mutually dependent Europe is needed to tackle the economic crisis. This crisis is due to an absence of rules in the markets and can be overcome not with protectionism but with firm discipline and with innovation”. The head of the Socialist group in the EP, Martin Schulz, called for a series of “key measures to reinforce the European recovery plan”, measures that must aim at greater investments, revived solidarity and the crackdown on “tax havens”. Graham Watson, leader of the Liberal-Democrats, argues that “proper measures to tackle the crisis have still to be adopted” and to this end awaits the decisions of the summit of the EU27 on 19-20 March. “It goes without saying – he adds – that we’ll have to proceed towards a more sustainable economy” at the environmental level. Strongly critical of the Commission, on the other hand, is the head of the Greens in the EP, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who accuses the Executive of being “too subservient to the positions of national governments”. Report of the European Parliament. During the session, the Parliament also approved the Report of French MEP Anne Ferreira which urges “the coordination of economic rescue plans” and a “European initiative in support of employment and the revival of investments”. In effect the report approved in the EP – though it does not have immediate implications for the decisions of the European Council – seems to indicate more “courageous” approaches that hitherto pursued by the 27 governments and by the Commission itself. The report is especially aimed at reviving investments in infrastructures (30 European networks still await realization), in clean energy and broad band. It also calls for the promotion of forms of EU loans (in essence “eurobonds” managed by the European Investment Bank); these would be temporary, guaranteed and aimed at development.