Federation of Young European Greens

In the aftermath of the meeting of the government and state leaders of the European Union yesterday, FYEG is deeply disappointed by the outcomes of the Council meeting. The proposals made by the summit will - even if put in place - not have any positive impact on the economic situation of Europe. On the contrary, they will lead Europe further down the path of recession and growing social inequalities.

Forcing EU states to exercise austerity and cuts in public expenciture without a sustainable harmonisation of fiscal policies including a raise in income and wealth taxes and a reform of the banking system, is the worst kind of action Europe can take in times of crisis. Balancing governmental budgets only through austerity measures and spending cuts, without raising incomes through more taxation will further increase inequality within our societies.

What we need is more integration on fiscal and economic policies and to regain power of the political sphere over the banking sector which includes more regulation. Financial regulations must be extended to regain the control over the markets, to reduce risks from future crises, and to show that those responsible for the financial crises are held liable. FYEG also opposes the vision of economic governance that solely relies on top-down measures which force procylcic austerity policies and bypass all democratic processes.

Terry Reintke, co-spokesperson of FYEG, said: "The state leaders are openly neglecting the simplest rules of their own economic regime. This kind of politics will lead us even further into crisis and recession. Not to speak of the social inequalities this will produce, it will destabilise the economic sphere in Europe in the long term."

Nic Schaefers, co-spokesperson of FYEG, added: "This agreement - even if put in place - will probably not be legally binding as it is not a proper treaty change. What we need are thorough changes in order to harmonise the European economic politics that is agreed with the democratic participation of the European and national parliaments."

We demand that the European Commission and the European Parliament take a more active role and propose how to do necessary reforms within the EU framework including the introduction of Financial Transaction Tax and the Common Corporate Tax Base as well as Eurobonds and a real economic coordination in a fiscal and economic union.