Owen Tudor
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou spoke to the World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) this afternoon. Although he is presiding over huge, unpopular cuts in the Greek welfare state, it was the Greek trade union movement that asked for him to speak, because in ITUC President Sharan Burrows’ words, “he above all knows what it is like to run a government in the eye of the storm.”
He called explicitly for the 0.05% financial transactions tax proposed by trade unions and NGOs, which he claimed could raise €240bn across the EU.
“We could make poverty history, tackle climate change and make a new world”, he said, “So what is stopping us?” He denied the claim that Greece’s problems were caused by a lavish welfare state, but by economic mismanagement by the previous conservative government. “I am neither for or against markets, or for or against government but for regulated markets and openness in government,” he said. Markets should serve the people, not the other way round.
He also condemned those governments whose economies are “competitive in the short-term but unsustainable long-term” because of environmental degradation and low wages.
Trackback made by Tweets that mention Greek Prime Minister backs Robin Hood Tax | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC -- Topsy.com on Jun 22nd 2010 at 6:19 am:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by gemma tumelty and ToUChstone blog, TUCGlobal. TUCGlobal said: RT @touchstoneblog: Greek Prime Minister backs Robin Hood Tax http://bit.ly/dCIGUJ [...]
Comment made by Tim Worstall on Jun 22nd 2010 at 8:35 am:
““We could make poverty history, tackle climate change and make a new world”, he said, “So what is stopping us?””
The law perhaps? As the EU has pointed out, an FTT on currency transactions would breach the Treaty of Rome.
Comment made by Owen Tudor on Jun 22nd 2010 at 2:29 pm:
As I’ve pointed out before, Tim, the EU has said no such thing. A Commission official suggested it might be contrary to the Treaty of Lisbon (that’s the one actually in force right now), but that was just an opinion, and one not apparently shared by people like … ooh…. Chancellor Merkel of Germany, among others.
Comment made by Tim Worstall on Jun 22nd 2010 at 2:34 pm:
“the Treaty of Lisbon (that’s the one actually in force right now)”
Err, no. The Treaty of Lisbon was a series of amendments to the Treaty of Rome. Now that it’s all been passed and brought into force we only have the Treaty of Rome, as amended by Lisbon, Amsterdam, Maastricht and all the rest.
And you would prefer to take the word of a politician on the make than a bureaucrat explaining the law would you?
Trackback made by The Sherwood Echo: Friday 2nd July | The Robin Hood Tax on Jul 2nd 2010 at 2:50 pm:
[...] reached by the EU Council and European Parliament over capping bonuses for bankers. In Europe, Greece has recently joined France, Germany, Austria and Belgium and come out in support of a Financial [...]