“The argument between austerity and growth is over. Right now everyone agrees that we need to support growth,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in a public debate in Italy.
According to a report in the online edition of Italian newspaper La Stampa, Lew expressed the opinion that things in Europe have changed in the past 18 months regarding the need for growth instead of the austerity favored by Germany.
The Greek government’s position is that measures and reforms that promote growth are needed, and that high primary surplus targets and other austerity measures are not the panacea to exit the economic crisis. The particular position was stressed by the Greek side during the recent meeting of Mediterranean EU member state leaders in Athens.
“I’ll let the Germans speak for themselves about their positions. We had, of course, a number of disagreements with them in regards to the macroeconomic policies of recent years, but if you look at the policies of the last eighteen months in Europe, you will notice that a number of things have changed,” Lew said.
“I do not think we will see a change of philosophy in Germany, but I think we have already seen a change in actions,” he added.
According to the U.S. Secretary, “We have already seen an easing of fiscal targets for countries that have fiscal problems but were hit hard by the refugee crisis, and Germany accepted that. Berlin itself proceeded in all necessary expenditure, beyond the level of the budgetary targets, to address the migration issue.”
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