With No Stimulus Plan, EU is Doomed to Crisis - PES Leader Stanishev

PES and Bulgarian Socialist Party president Sergey Stanishev. Photo by BSP.bg

The EU cannot emerge from the crisis unless a full-scale program of economic stimuli and job creation is implemented, said PES and Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergey Stanishev.

"Last December's intergovernmental fiscal union agreement in no way solves the problems with the financial crisis and trust in the EU, and the eurozone in particular," said the former Bulgarian PM in an interview for the Bulgarian Focus News Agency Sunday.

"The fiscal rules adopted in the agreement provide that the countries that have signed it will not go into large debt in the short and long term - but this cannot in any way restore trust in the euro, given present levels of debt," argued Stanishiev.

He recalled that this was not true only for countries such as Greece and Italy, but also for the EU's largest economies, Germany and France.

"The position of PES is clear: we need fiscal discipline, but this is not a recipe to emerge from the crisis. Without a coordinated and strong European stimulus plan, including invesments and jobs, no emerging from the crisis is in store," said the socialist leader.

He argued that EU member states need to look into increasing their revenue and alleviating the effects of the crisis on their poorer citizens.

Stanishev also reiterated the European Socialists' support of an increased role of the European Central Bank and the emission of eurobonds.

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