Brussels, 22/02/2013
The recession is only over when unemployment is back down, not when markets recover. However, unemployment continues to increase everyday and is already intolerably high in many member states. The Commission cares for the markets, when will they care for the people?
Most recent business cycle indicators do not signal an end to the recession. What they are telling us is that the economy, after a collapse in activity in the final quarter of the previous year, still continues to contract.
Moreover, if the Commission forces member states to continue with the disastrous road of austerity and wage devaluation, the same policies will create the same consequences and the recession will intensify.
Says Bernadette Ségol: ‘The case of Spain is illuminating. Despite implementing round after round of fiscal cuts, despite a frontal attack on wages and collective bargaining, the deficit actually increased in 2012 from 9.4% of GDP to 10.2%! If policy makers cling on to their rigid deficit targets and continue to impose austerity, Spain’s recession will be even worse than expected and unemployment will shoot up to one third of active people.’