EU Commissioner raises concerns about emergency plans as social programmes take the brunt of cutbacks.

László Andor, the European commissioner for employment and social affairs, has raised concerns that the austerity programmes being developed by national governments to address the present crisis will lead to deeper recession rather than recovery in Europe. 

He is concerned that the speedy responses being required from member states to address the issue of sovereign debt have not been sufficiently carefully thought through and may have a very negative impact on Europe’s social development.

In an interview with the European Voice newspaper he raised concerns that recent policy developments were prioritising austerity measures over social concerns. These developments could threaten the EU’s fragile recovery by for example creating a risk of a double-dip recession in parts of the EU that could impact on the whole EU. It is of interest in this context that the Commissioner used to be a director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as an adviser to the World Bank.

This analysis by Commissioner Andor contrasts with the analysis provided by both Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, and with the European Central Bank.

This understanding seems directly to challenge the position held by governments in countries such as Ireland. Over the past two montths austerity packages have been introduced by Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and the UK.