2012/11/15

21. Economist Maria-Carmen Guisan in New York Times. Room for Debate: Austerity Policies are not working in Europe, 12th November of 2012.






Economist Maria-Carmen Guisan in NY Times: Room for Debate, 2012


 An interesting debate about Euro and EU economic policies appears at the NY Times Foro "Room for Debate".

Contributions by

Charles Dumas, Lombard Street Research

Aristides N. Hatzis, University of Athens

John Cotter, University College Dublin
Veronique de Rugy, George Mason University


 Contribution by Maria-Carmen Guisan to NY Times Foro 2012:







Austerity Measures Are Not Working



Loans from countries with a trade surplus, like Germany, to countries with trade deficits, like Spain, are necessary to keep the E.U. functioning.
E.U. policies should address increasing development throughout the entire E.U. instead of pushing excessive austerity, which only results in stagnation and recession. The E.U. should foster industrial development particularly in countries with low levels of industrial value-added per capita, and avoid the industrial stagnation that the E.U. has experienced over the last seven years (2005-2012). Such policies would improve the quality of life in every country and increase German sales.
LINKS TO Maria-Carmen Guisan contributions to OTHER INTERESTING DEBATES ON EUROPEAN ECONOMY
Year 2012: Friends of Europe.






The Future of Europe - European Policy Summit, Roundtable  11/10/2012



 There was also direct input from Europe's citizens through Debating Europe, our online platform that enables citizens to talk directly to decisionmakers. Please find below questions from EU citizens that were put to the roundtable during the debates.

Session I - Questions from Christos and Remi via Debating Europe:
Session I - Questions from Lluis and Rui via Debating Europe:
Session II - Questions from Maria Carmen and Pedro via Debating Europe:
Session III - Questions from Karsten and Martin via Debating Europe:
Video of Maria-Carmen Guisan in the Debate of FRIENDS OF EUROPE



The Video of que questions to that Session of Debating Europe  in year 2012 were  at: http://vimeo.com/51444369 but in the update of year 2020 we have found a "broken link".

Year 2013: Maria Carmen Guisan about Chipre: Voice of Galicia/Voz de Galicia 22nd March of 2013. Article in Spanish at the journal Website
Article in English here:
Europe must solve the Cyprus problem without taxing bank deposits
It is not good news that the European Union, with the banking crisis in a small country like Cyprus, revealed an overreaction of immediate discipline that induces fear for the confiscation of part of bank deposits in the country, since apart from the damage to Cyprus citizens therefore causes concern in other countries may fear similar measures.
The alarmist language (rescue, insolvency, sequestration, etc.) With which EU currently deal with the financial problems of the European Union, is absurd and exaggerated. Much of the EU countries, including Cyprus and Spain which have a very similar per capita production, are well above world average income and therefore have a reasonable ability to deal with their problems without resorting to such language or excessive austerity measures. Almost 5 billion people in the world have a per capita income that is less than 1/3 of which are Cyprus and Spain, and do not reach the 1 billion those developed countries with  an income per capita above these two countries, therefore adopt standard measures that can solve the problems effectively and without twitching.
Retrieves the confidence of depositors in savings banks is very important to overcome this economic crisis, so taxing savings is a totally undesirable measure that generate uncertainty about the integrity of bank deposits.
Solving the problem of Cyprus banking, which accounts for less than 0.2 per cent of the European economy, does not seem to be a task too complicated, so the EU bodies should be able to adopt normal measures, postponed reasonable periods, without aggressive interventions which generate fears for citizens. If the cause of the banking problems of Cyprus comes from its exposure to Greek bonds devalued, it is clear that is not the fault of its citizens but of poor design of European regulations concerning the safety of bonds of its member countries.

The costs of resolving a problem of insufficient financial capacity must be allocated appropriately, and in reasonable time, among the actors that have generated this lack of capacity. The part that has to be assumed by all the citizens of a country should be integrated into the general tax policy principles of equity and  moderation, and not applied in an arbitrary and unfair way to savings depositors.
The dream of a united Europe to cooperate amicably for the economic development of their countries appears, every day, more broken. It seems advisable that the policies of the European Union should be more prudent and effective measures to overcome the crisis, instead of causing concern and distrust of citizens.
Source: Maria-Carmen Guisan. Professor of Economics. Voz de Galicia 22nd March 2013.

Other selected articles on criticisms to EU excessive austerity policies:

The Guardian:

Europe's austerity: big worries, small thinking

Plan A is now acknowledged to be a failure; yet it remains the default option, just extended far into the future


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/29/europes-austerity-big-worries-editorial

NY times Paul Krugman on 15h April of 2012:

Europe’s Economic Suicide