Dear friends,
I just wanted to alert about this new report by Deutsche Bank, which
argues that EU countries caught up in the eurozone debt crisis should
privatise to raise funds and gain trust of the markets. The 16-page
report is a hopeless piece of neoliberal orthodoxy full of platitudes
about the private sector being more effective than the public, but in
the current political and economic context there is reason for concern.
The Deutsche Bank report argues "there is scope for privatisation in
nearly all sectors of the economy", but then highlights "the areas of
infrastructure and services of general interest. Rail transport,
postal service, water supply and sewage disposal are still in the
remit of the public sector in many countries."
The report explicitly mentions that the political circumstances for a
new privatisation push are favourable: "The commitment to privatise
government property is one of the main components of the restructuring
plans imposed by the 'troika' of IMF, ECB and European Commission on
euro-area countries when they avail themselves of aid from the euro
rescue packages."
The report "Revenue, competition, growth - Potential for privatisation
in the euro area" (Deutsche Bank Research, December 1, 2011) is online
here:
http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000281545.pdfIt seems high time for a strong pan-European counter-campaign against
the new privatisation push and particularly the role of the European
Commission in this.
In solidarity,
Olivier Hoedeman
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
_______________________________________________
RPWEurope mailing list
RPWEurope@waterjustice.org
http://www14.antenna.nl/mailman/listinfo/rpweurope