30/01/2009
EPP rely on usual conservative tax cuts
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen slammed the EPP for proposing tax cuts to solve the crisis. The ‘draft EPP election document 2009’ gives a clear commitment to cutting taxes, although their shorter ‘draft EPP manifesto’ hides any mention of tax cuts or unpopular public spending cuts.
Rasmussen said “EPP tax cuts mean EPP spending cuts. Why don’t they just come out and tell us they want to axe public services? They don’t dare because public spending cuts are the last thing you need at a time of rising unemployment. It is the same old conservative rhetoric, the same old tired ideology.”
“Who will bear the brunt of these EPP public spending cuts? Will it be the unemployed or children at school? Will it be pensioners or those who rely on public transport to get to work?”
Rasmussen added “The truth is that the high-tax Nordic countries are among the most competitive in the world. The taxes pay for the life-long learning, the research and development, the child care which the EPP say they want. How can the EPP pay for life-long learning, for better child care and for more R&D if they cut taxes?”
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen branded the ‘draft EPP manifesto’ for the 2009 European elections as “hypocritical.”
He highlighted five cast-iron cases of EPP hypocrisy:
1. The EPP claim that the financial and economic crisis calls for ‘far sightedness, not ideology.’
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen countered “The EPP’s short-sighted ideological faith in deregulated markets has led Europe into this crisis.”
2. The EPP claim the Socialists want to push nationalization.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen asked “I challenge the EPP to tell me which bank nationalization or bail-out they opposed? Did I miss them calling for Fortis to be allowed to collapse, or perhaps Credit Agricole or maybe the Royal Bank of Scotland? Nationalization was necessary to counter market failure. It is an EPP fantasy that we push nationalization – we do not even mention the word in our PES manifesto. Nationalization is a short-term necessity not a Socialist goal.”
3. The EPP claim they want ‘better and smarter regulation’ of the financial market.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen asked “If the EPP want better regulation why did they keep telling me in the European Parliament that new regulation was not necessary? I proposed new regulation in May 2008 and they kept saying no until September when the collapse of Lehman Brothers made their anti-regulation stance impossible to sustain.”
4. The EPP claim they are committed to ‘reduce greenhouse gases and promote carbon-free energy sources’.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen asked “Why did the EPP spend months trying to water down the climate package if they are so concerned about climate change?”
5. The EPP say they want ‘better child care’. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said “The PES ran a child care campaign in 2007 to promote the EU’s child care targets. What did the EPP do in the Parliament or Council to work for better child care? They did nothing.”
