Ad
Jose Manuel Barroso finishes his job as EU commission president on Friday. Olli Rehn is now a member of the European Parliament (Photo: Lisbon Council)

Barroso, Rehn 'unfairly criticised' for eurozone austerity

As Jose Manuel Barroso steps down as European Commission President (31 October), one of his few left-wing colleagues says that he was unfairly labelled as an austerity ideologue during his time in office.

Laszlo Andor, a Hungarian economist in charge of social policy since 2009, said that it was member states who were fixated on slashing public spending and that the commission itself had few powers - especially at the beginning of the financial crisis - to change anything.

"I don’...

Get EU news that matters

Back our independent journalism by becoming a supporting member

Already a member? Login here
Jose Manuel Barroso finishes his job as EU commission president on Friday. Olli Rehn is now a member of the European Parliament (Photo: Lisbon Council)

Tags

Ad

Related articles

Ad
Ad