The Annual Growth Survey shows us the European austerity policy is moving Europe further and further away from the objectives of the EU2020 strategy
Europe is facing the challenge of a generation. High and rising unemployment, widening inequalities and a deteriorating economic and social situation are increasingly leading to political tensions and social unrest. As the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) 2013 is published the ETUC calls on the European Commission and Europe’s political leaders to stop austerity and change political orientation. Indeed, a quick stock take at the onset of the 3rd European Semester shows that the European Union is falling on nearly all the Europe 2020 Strategy targets, which set the roadmap for jobs and growth in Europe for the next decade.
The eurozone is back in recession. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [1] slashed its eurozone economic growth forecasts and warned that the region poses the greatest threat to the global economy. The goals of reaching a 75% employment rate and lifting at least 20 million people out of poverty by 2020 are fast receding into the distance. Eurostat estimates that 25.913 million men and women in the EU27 were unemployed in September 2012 and unemployment rose by 2.174 million in one year. Across Europe, people are taking to the streets rejecting austerity and demanding a fairer Europe. We need leaders with the courage and vision to admit their mistakes and take corrective action.
The trade union movement is no longer the lone voice calling for a policy shift – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and leading economists have all warned of the need to loosen the austerity grip. European leaders must end their obsession with structural labour reforms focusing on supply side labour market reforms, attacks on wages and downwards competition among Member States.
This week, three renowned economic institutes have published an independent Annual Growth Survey which refutes the Commission’s forecasts which they say underestimates the impact of the austerity measures.
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