Noget kunne tyde på, at det bliver de fornuftige og ansvarlige, der kommer til at bløde for en "Stadig tættere union". Fra the Telegraph:
Europeans face a “meltdown” in the value of their savings that could threaten both the euro and the EU.
A report by the European parliament’s budgetary control committee warns: “As a consequence of the macro-economic assistance programmes and ECB lending operations, EU citizens face a meltdown of their life savings with interest rates being lower than 1pc … around the current inflation rate.
“This situation could potentially put the acceptance of the euro currency and the EU as a whole at risk."
Official figures put the euro area’s annual inflation rate at 0.8pc for December. This is well above the eurozone’s benchmark interest rate, which was set again at the record low of 0.25pc last week.
Paul Nuttall MEP, the deputy leader of Ukip, said that the European Central Bank was effectively robbing people of the value of their savings in the name of eurozone dogma.
“In a rare bout of honesty and realism the committee has admitted that the ECB is silently stealing savers’ money,” he said.
Jens Weidmann, a member of the ECB’s governing council and the head of Germany’s Bundesbank, defended the low interest rate policy but also warned of the risks of keeping rates low for too long.
“An ultra-loose monetary policy is a therapy with risks and side-effects. It cannot become a permanent therapy, especially as the positive effects are reduced over time, while the risks increase,” he said.
Last year, Mr Weidmann admitted that he understood growing concerns in Germany about “creeping expropriation” of savings, as assets saved for pensions have declined by 15pc or more for some savers.
A wide-ranging report on the EU’s crisis-fighting policies by MEPs has concluded that the ECB and European Commission need greater democratic oversight, while criticising them for “failing to correct recommendations when they proved inadequate and detrimental”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/10577646/Europeans-face-savings-meltdown-that-could-threaten-EU.html
