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Irrgang: ‘Political union no solution for banking and eurocrisis’

22 October 2011

Irrgang: ‘Political union no solution for banking and eurocrisis’

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang today warned the government not to hand over any more powers to Brussels. According to Irrgang, the government, supported by opposition parties Labour, the Green Left and the centrist D66, has embarked upon a slippery slope. ‘They want to rig up a political union for which there is absolutely no support amongst the people. The euro demonstrated that the unification of Europe has gone far too quickly. The people have turned their backs on this en masse and just as this is happening, these parties decide to limit the influence of ordinary men and women still further.’
In the debate, held in preparation for this Sunday’s European summit, Irrgang stressed that the eurocrisis is a direct result of the banking crisis which began in 2008. “This financial crisis can be blamed in its entirety on the bankers who ran crazy risks and on politicians who created the space for this behaviour. Today’s eurocrisis is the consequence of this reckless policy. The bank crisis put the light to the fuse.” In Irrgang’s view it is therefore completely logical that the financial sector should pay for the damage it has caused.

Ewout IrrgangIrrgang argued that it has been obvious for fully eighteen months that the Greek debt must be partly annulled. “The Greek problem isn’t yet resolved,” he said. “I’d go further: delay has meant that Greece’s problems have become contagious. The interests of the banks always weigh more heavily than those of the public, who are expected to pay up, instead of the banks themselves having to do so.”

Irrgang argued also against any increase in the European emergency fund, as proposed by the government. Instead, he wants to see an immediate debt annulment for Greece and a tough approach to speculators and the financial sector. “We’re sticking our heads ever more firmly into the noose known as the euro. Should this turn out badly, the fat will be in the fire as far as our guarantees to the emergency fund are concerned. Yet in the financial sector they are in the meantime carrying on as if it were business as usual, as if there hasn’t been a crisis at all, while the whole of Europe is clearing up their mess. If you want to save the euro you will have to tackle the problem at source, and that isn’t the member states, but the banks and the speculators.”

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