‘Yellow Vests’ are Outcome of EU’s Decade-Long Austerity Measures – Activist
SputnikNews.com
11.12.2018
The European Commission’s decade-long tough austerity measures coupled with excessive taxation have resulted in the “yellow vests” movement, Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist, told Sputnik.
“In reality, the struggle of the Gilet Jaunes [Yellow Vests] is a cry for help from people who struggle every month for existence”, said Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist, emphasising that “working is no longer a guarantee for being able to exist properly” in Europe.
The “yellow vest” protests have engulfed France since November 17 with around 136,000 people having participated in the protests nationwide on December 8, according to France 24 television broadcaster. Meanwhile, the number of those arrested have mounted to over 1,700.
The Stability and Growth Pact and Austerity
The protests were prompted by austerity measures that were adopted in the EU following the global recession of 2008, the human rights activist noted, suggesting that the European bloc had turned into a “super-state” that imposes its will on sovereign nations.
“The European Stability Pact [The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP)] has been pursuing a rigorous austerity policy in Europe for several years”, Vermaut explained. “European governments must submit their budgets to the European Commission (EC) before they are discussed in the various parliaments. In it you see that we are already living in the European super-state. The coup d’état that is being imposed on the people has started after many years of austerity policy throughout Europe. There is increasing tension in Europe about this, because this policy is affecting the sovereignty of nation states, which are being held hostage [while living] in this European straitjacket of budget savings and austerity for the people”,
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