EU Leadership Hardens Its Pro-Austerity Stance

Germany and the European Commission have pushed back against voter discontent in the European Union, saying nations must continue to cut their budgets.

In elections on Sunday, voters in France and Greece gave strong support to parties that want to roll back or slow down the spending cuts and tax increases that Berlin and Brussels have demanded as a response to Europe’s debt crisis.

German and EU officials said on Tuesday that there is some room for growth policies, but insisted that any such policies must not detract from the main goal: to lower Europe’s deficits.

At a news conference, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said, “Reducing debts and deficits is essential to build confidence and cut borrowing costs. Every euro spent on interest payments is a euro less for jobs and investment.”

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, lashed out at EU critics on Wednesday and said that the EU will not “be going back on the euro.” He also said that European politicians are lying to their citizens when they say their countries are better off going it alone.

The animus toward Brussels is growing, however. In Greece, leftist leader Alexis Tsipras’s anti-austerity party came in second in Sunday’s vote. Tsipras has declared that his country is no longer bound by its pledges to impose crippling cutbacks in return for rescue loans, and he has offered a plan to nationalize Greece’s banks.

Those statements sent the global markets reeling. Investors are increasingly concerned that Greece may be forced out of the euro within months.

The level of economic insecurity and uncertainty in the EU cannot remain at such high levels for much longer. Expect some dramatic reforms within the EU to deal with the ongoing euro crisis. For more information on where the Trumpet believes this crisis is leading, read “The Fourth Reich Is Here.”