EU official says austerity has “reached its limits.”

European Commission president José Manuel Barroso calls for increased emphasis on short-term growth measures.

from Public Service Europe

"The European Union's austerity-driven response to the economic crisis may have been pushed as far as possible because the approach no longer has the required support among citizens and governments, José Manuel Barroso said yesterday — leading critics to welcome what they saw as a major u-turn by the EU leadership.

"At a conference in Brussels, president of the European Commission Barroso said he believed austerity, or fiscal consolidation, was 'fundamentally right' but that it had 'reached its limits in many aspects'. He added: 'A policy to be successful not only has to be properly designed. It has to have the minimum of political and social support.'

"With the eurozone still mired in recession, the comments were pounced on by long-term opponents of austerity. Hannes Swoboda — leader of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament — claimed that protesters in countries hit hardest by deep budget cuts and tax rises were 'at last being heard'. …"

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