The coordinators of the political groups in the economic and financial affairs committee of the European Parliament have decided to draft a report about the work of the Troika in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus. During the past month I worked hard to achieve this agreement and I am glad that the work will start now.
The Troika consists of the ECB, EU-Commission and the IMF. Despite its very important role in the euro crisis, most of the work took place behind closed doors in an opaque manner. The European Parliament has not had an effecitive chance to influence the Troika’s actions until now. This is particularly crucial for the ECB and its financing activities of banks that already face financial problems.
Parliamentary hearings and smaller studies analysing the Troika’s work shall be commissioned. Currently the political groups discuss how to structure the report, while awaiting the final approval of the project by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament.
The original plans of the Troika did not work out in any of the countries under scrutiny. The contraction of the economy was more dramatic, increase in unemployment was far stronger and also sovereign debts were far higher than foreseen by the first Troika programmes. For these reasons many European citizens expect that the European Parliament finds out what lead to these alarming results. It is particularly important to have a closer look at cases which were in breach of law and in which legislation was applied incorrectly. Concrete input for this work will help us to formulate more concrete research instructions for the studies. Thank you for your help – we will keep you posted on future developments.