Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I repeat my outright opposition to the Bill which I opposed on the earlier Stages. It is clear that it represents a continuation of the general policy of the European Union and the European Central Bank to offload the consequences of the crisis within the European financial markets onto the shoulders of working and poor people throughout the Union. That policy which has been most notably implemented up to now in what are referred to as the peripheral states, including Greece, Portugal and Ireland, has had disastrous consequences for the economies of these countries, the living standards of the peoples concerned, public services and many other aspects of life.

It is fundamentally unjust that a crisis of the financial system, which means a crisis brought about by the activities, speculation and workings of the major financial institutions, including hedge fund operators and speculators of various kinds, should result in a huge bill being presented to ordinary people throughout Europe. I refer to circumstances in which the financial system goes awry, as happened spectacularly in the past four or five years. The Bill, which is extraordinary, is continuing that policy. That the agency being set up is not subject to any judicial or real democratic check is absolutely incredible. While we do need a solidarity fund within Europe, the fund proposed is not a solidarity fund but involves a continuation of the predatory practices of the financial market system.

According to recent articles in The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, there is €2 trillion in uninvested profits sitting in the bank accounts of major corporations and private companies in the eurozone. There is a need for an emergency tax on these profits which have been made through the labours of ordinary people. That they have not been invested, at a time when there are 17 million or 18 million unemployed in the eurozone, is social criminality. We need an emergency tax on speculation in the financial markets throughout Europe and in that way to set up a genuine solidarity fund to be used for investment in society to create the millions of jobs needed to develop services and society to ensure the well-being of the majority, rather than continuing to cater for the private profits of speculators in the markets. This is a disastrous system which shows all of what is wrong with capitalism and how its financial policies are implemented. We need a clear alternative. Therefore, I oppose the Bill.

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