The decisive test of the euro area’s plans for economic recovery was never Greece but Spain, and the European Union shows every sign of failing it. The Spanish government’s new austerity plan hasn’t won investors’ confidence, and this creates a threat not just to Spain but to the whole EU. Europe’s governments need to change course before it’s too late. (...)
The problem is not that Spain’s new austerity plan is too timid. Just the opposite: Under EU orders, Spain is promising what might be the tightest fiscal squeeze that it or any other European economy has ever faced. The new plan calls for the budget deficit to fall from 8.5 percent of gross domestic product to 5.3 percent this year. Since the economy is already shrinking, this requires a discretionary fiscal tightening of roughly 4 percent of GDP -- with the unemployment rate already standing at about 23 percent. (...)
Spain cannot work through this crisis without more help from its EU partners. In their own larger interests they should allow a milder path of fiscal consolidation, and support Spanish growth along that path. That means steps to buoy EU-wide growth, including easier fiscal policy in Germany and easier monetary policy from the ECB. It means outright temporary fiscal transfers to Spain. Above all it means announcing that the ECB will act as lender of last resort to distressed euro-area governments.
Spain is being drawn into a vicious circle of economic, fiscal and political collapse. Even now, this is an avoidable danger, so long as the EU is willing to act. But if it stands aside too long and lets Spain fall into the trap, containing the damage will make dealing with Greece look like child’s play.
Bloomberg
The problem is not that Spain’s new austerity plan is too timid. Just the opposite: Under EU orders, Spain is promising what might be the tightest fiscal squeeze that it or any other European economy has ever faced. The new plan calls for the budget deficit to fall from 8.5 percent of gross domestic product to 5.3 percent this year. Since the economy is already shrinking, this requires a discretionary fiscal tightening of roughly 4 percent of GDP -- with the unemployment rate already standing at about 23 percent. (...)
Spain cannot work through this crisis without more help from its EU partners. In their own larger interests they should allow a milder path of fiscal consolidation, and support Spanish growth along that path. That means steps to buoy EU-wide growth, including easier fiscal policy in Germany and easier monetary policy from the ECB. It means outright temporary fiscal transfers to Spain. Above all it means announcing that the ECB will act as lender of last resort to distressed euro-area governments.
Spain is being drawn into a vicious circle of economic, fiscal and political collapse. Even now, this is an avoidable danger, so long as the EU is willing to act. But if it stands aside too long and lets Spain fall into the trap, containing the damage will make dealing with Greece look like child’s play.
Bloomberg
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