‘Germany defends austerity against EU’

José Manuel Barroso’s remarks to the effect that “austerity policies have reached their limits” have attracted the ire of the ruling Christian Democrat (CDU) and liberal (FDP) coalition in Berlin.
The Vice-President of the CDU group in the Bundestag described the Commission President’s speech as “nonsense”, while Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) insisted that “abandoning the policy of budgetary consolidation would pave the way for years of mass unemployment in Europe.”
According to the latest EU statisitics, published on April 22, the Eurozone deficit now stands at 3.7 per cent. Many experts have expressed concern that, in the current context of economic gloom, “Europe may be ready to throw in the towel."