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European leaders, faced with rising unemployment and growing unrest at home, are trying to shift the debate from fighting the debt crisis to reviving growth in the bloc that produces a sixth of global economic output.
One of the proposals is to deploy 82 bln euros of unspent funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget in an attempt to boost employment and soften the blow from the harsh austerity programmes. Part of that money is the 140 mln that will be needed to build the Centre for the Arts in Nicosia, a project that is four years behind schedule and will cost double from what was initially designed.
What the government has not yet told us is that far less of that amount will eventually be allocated from EU funds, as opposed to the “vast majority” that we were made to believe all these years. Might as well redirect that money to job creation and growth generation.
Growth does not necessarily mean throwing good money into the construction sector, simply to satisfy union egos and demands. At the same time, the prospects of earnings from the natural gas deposits will not be realised for at least another eight years. So, who are we kidding?
It is ironic that what used to be a pro-labour administration has turned ultra-conservative when it comes to spending on growth and sustaining jobs. Thanks to this rigidity, trade unions in the public and private sectors have been incited to persist with unreasonable pay demands, as a result of which the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) called on its members to freeze wages for two years and cut down on staff.
Furthermore, having done almost nothing for the past eight months to encourage investments in alternative sources of energy and ignoring the pleas from the Greens to reinstate the incentives for photovoltaic panels, the government has now decided to submit a bill raising the tariff on power generated from solar and winds farms.
Had the government allowed for more generous investments in green energy, as it had declared a year ago when announcing subsidies to hire unemployed graduates, then the path towards growth, and a green one at that, would already have been underway. The rigidity with which some state offices handle applications has also forced many small employers to give up on any hope of securing aid that would help hire more graduates or retain staff at current levels. Hence the rising levels of unemployment, especially among 25-year-olds.
The first step would be to abandon the Centre for the Arts, as much as the country needs such a place. A small sacrifice for the greater good and to help our future generations.
