ECONOMIC CRISIS : MEP BERES SLAMS EU'S LACK OF SOLIDARITY.

• Position: Pervenche Beres - Brief article

The Chairwoman of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Pervenche Beres of France, criticised the current macroeconomic framework of the European Union, on 14 January. "The tools we currently have to help our economy are old-fashioned, to say the least," she said. "The European Social Fund, the European Globalisation adjustment Fund - they all did not offer enough solidarity for the European Union. All of a sudden the International Monetary Fund is on a mission to Greece, which is struggling with high debts. This is incredible. And what about the situation in Hungary or in the Baltic states? The EU is not well equipped to create a better economy. We have to review the structural funds". She added, "If we are not even able to set up a well functioning macroeconomic framework, then how can we fight unemployment?"

At at meeting at Eurochambres, the umbrella organisation for European chambers of...