EU finance ministers defend austerity as demos mount
Wolfgang Schaeuble - Photo EU Council
(GODOLLO) - EU finance ministers defended Saturday the imposition of painful austerity measures and called for public "understanding," as thousands of protesters were to gather in Budapest.
"People must understand that we are not making savings to make people angry, we are making savings in order to be able to pay in future for our social policies," Luxembourg's Luc Frieden said as ministers held a second day of talks dominated by a deal to bail out Portugal.
Unions were predicting some 30,000 protesters staging anti-austerity demonstrations around the ministers' meetings would descend on central Budapest Saturday.
Similarly large protests turned ugly in recent weeks in London and Brussels.
"I understand (the demonstrations) but I think it is wrong," said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
He said the EU had embarked on a path of public sector cuts and other drastic measures to carve out a "sustainable framework for growth."
"And for sustainable growth, stable currency is a precondition, and stable budgets are a precondition," otherwise today's governments would be abdicating their "responsability to future generations," he added.
Sweden's Anders Borg also said he did not understand why the demos were continuing, while EU Finance Commissioner Ollie Rehn also said budgetary tightening and lasting growth went hand-in-hand.
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet added: "We are convinced that solid budgetary policies, solid macroeconomic policies, and attentive monitoring of prices in the general economy are the key to lasting growth and job creation."