EU Demands Much More Austerity

EU Observer/Brussels:  Despite hundreds of billions having already been slashed from EU member-state budgets in the wake of the economic crisis, the European Commission this week said the cuts have not been deep or radical enough and demanded still more austerity from European governments.At the launch of the first ever ‘European Semester’, a new annual process of oversight of national budget-drafting by Brussels, the EU executive outlined a series of stringent recommendations, dubbed the ‘Annual Growth Survey’, that it wants national capitals to adhere to.

In a show of cross-ideological unity, a trio of Europe’s top civil servants, the centre-right President Jose Manuel Barroso, liberal economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn and left-wing employment chief Laszlo Andor outlined the plans in the European capital.

Mr Rehn told reporters that “rigorous” cuts and “structural reforms” were necessary for Europe to emerge from its ongoing debt crisis and return to growth.  Read more at EU Observer…..