The EU's New Austerity Treaty

Following a set of measures implemented in 2011 to impose budget discipline in the EU, a new budget treaty awaits signing at the EU Summit (on 1-2 March) that will seal far-reaching new Brussels' powers to intervene in economic and social policies of the EU member states.

Despite the strong and growing resistance in Greece and in other countries in Europe to the direction of EU policy responses to the crisis, the process for this new treaty has unfolded with disquieting speed: initiated in November, an agreement was already reached by end of January among the EU25. This comes at the expense of stifling democratic debate and, indeed, shortcutting the normal consultative procedures in the treaty process through legal manoeuvres.

In the run up to its signing, critical analysts and legal experts launch a comprehensive critique of what is essentially a permanent austerity treaty, including the socio-economic impacts and the legal and political backlash that is likely to come.

Panelists:

Lina Filopoulou, Neighborhood Assembly-Athens, Greece

Andy Storey, University College Dublin, Ireland

Lukas Oberndorfer, Universitat Wien, Austria

Kenneth Haar, Corporate Europe Observatory, Denmark 

Panelists will be available for interviews at the end of the debate.

For more information and to register, contact:

Julie de los Reyes, juliedelosreyes [at] tni.org

Yiorgos Vassalos, yiorgos [at] corporateeurope.org