UCD academic launches new booklet on Fiscal Treaty

UCD academic launches new booklet on Fiscal Treaty.

Kieran Allen, a senior lecturer in the School of Sociology in UCD, has
launched a new booklet on the Fiscal Treaty.

The Fiscal Treaty and the Euro Crisis’ contains an analysis of the text of
the treaty and the context that gave rise to it. The booklet is published
by the Voteno.ie website.

It claims that the Treaty imposes permanent austerity on countries like
Ireland while at the same time the European Central Bank is engaged in an
elaborate manoeuvre to hand out money to private banks.

Under the Long Term Refinancing Operation, EU banks have received €1. 1
trillion in soft loans at an interest rate of 1 percent per annum. This
money has been mainly invested in government bonds which have interest
rates of between 4 percent and 6 percent. This guarantees huge profits in
an elaborate scam known as the ‘carry-over trade’

‘One of the purposes of the Fiscal Treaty is to lock down spending on basic
public services so that money is set aside for the repayment of these
government bonds. Financial interests are driving the agenda of the Europe
and have promoted this treaty to ensure they get their pound of flesh’,
says Kieran Allen.

Ireland is particularly vulnerable, he claims, because the current debt to
GDP ratio stands at 120 percent. Meeting the terms of the Fiscal Treaty
will require cutbacks of between €5 billion and €6 billion a year.

‘You need to understand what these figures mean in real terms. If we shut
down both the primary and secondary schools, we could just about hit that
target. If we wish to keep them open, we will instead have to cut social
welfare, slash wages in the public sector and reduce hospital services.
Telling the people to vote ‘Yes for Jobs’ is a sick joke that will fall
very flat’.

If Ireland fails to meet its targets – which Allen believes is the most
likely scenario – then control over economic policy shifts to the unelected
EJ Commission. Article 3.2 of the treaty gives them power to determine ‘the
nature, size and timeframe of the corrective action to be taken’

‘It could not be clearer – we will hand over control to the same agency
that approved the bank bail outs. They will not have the interest of the
Irish people at heart’