The Fiscal Compact – Main Component of a Systemic Crisis

By adopting the Fiscal Compact the EU took over core concepts of the neoliberal School of Chicago, and, hence, of the main adversaries of the European Social Model. First, the Fiscal Compact strengthens the monetarist principle of binding economic policy to certain rules. At the same time, the core target of a maximum structural deficit of 0.5 percent of GDP should be achieved through deregulation, in particular of labour markets. Second, the European Commission estimates the structural deficit using the monetarist concept of a natural rate of unemployment. Third, the deficit procedure assumes that austerity policy does not impact (negatively) on production and employment. Hence, the Fiscal Compact has become a core component of the neoliberal "navigation map" which leads Europe deeper and deeper into a systemic crisis.