Dáil debates

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

European Council: Statements (Resumed)

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

I acknowledge it is a different programme but the Dutch programme states they were meant to reach a target of 3% for each of the next three years. Consequently, they now are in line for a fine. The Dutch had calculated they would need €18 billion in cuts, spread over the next four years, to meet their 3% target but they now will be obliged to make cuts of €15 billion next year alone. It will be interesting to see whether the Dutch will impose €15 billion in cuts next year to meet the targets to which they were signed up, as they are meant to be fined. Moreover, given the Netherlands was one of the countries next to Germany in respect of performance, it will be extremely interesting for the rest of us to see whether the rules will apply to the Dutch in that manner.

There is little doubt but that things cannot continue the way they are at present. Austerity will not solve the problems and to reiterate a point I made in the Chamber yesterday when discussing Greece, the cuts sadly have left one in five unemployed, which has driven up the suicide rate by 40%. The European crisis is about more than economics, as there is a huge human cost and Members do not need me to outline all the results and social consequences of such cuts, because they are dramatic. Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain are already feeling the effects of the cuts that have been made and they are beginning to have an impact in Italy. The Italian people do not know what is going to hit them. The Germans will be obliged to engage in a serious U-turn because the medicine they have prescribed may be good for their country but it is certainly not good for others.

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