On the occasion of today’s Euro-Finance Ministers meeting on further aid for Athens, Udo Bullmann, vice-president of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, asks for constructive solutions instead of dogmatic blockades.
Udo Bullmann said:
"After the immense savings efforts which the Greeks have implemented in recent years, the Euro-Finance Ministers must now honour their commitments, release bailout funds, and implement the debt relief that has been promised for a long time.
"This is not only fair but also sound economics. Only if we make sustainable growth possible in Southern Europe can the apocalyptic scenario in the Eurozone be left behind. A Greece that has been destroyed by dogmatic cuts while it continues to suffer under its debt burden cannot recover. Finance Minister Schäuble must no longer block a constructive solution for the crisis-stricken country."
Last week, the Greek parliament approved further pension cuts and tax increases, and thus created the conditions for the release of further bailout instalments.
"The most recent austerity programme approved in Athens is only the latest in a long series of reforms, which have exhausted the country. Greeks, from children to pensioners, have made their own painful contribution to the recovery of the state budget - always with the hope that the international community would make concessions in the form of debt relief.
"This promise must not fail because of the stubborn austerity obsession of the German Finance Minister."
