Speaking at the “Reasserting Europe’s values” seminar organised in Athens by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the Greek minister lashed out against austerity policies saying that Europe is repeating the mistakes of the period between two world wars.
In OECD countries in the 1960s, he said, the highest tax rate for incomes of more than €1 million was 60% while today it is 30%. “This is not only an important gift to wealthy people but also a blow to the welfare state’s ability to finance its social structures.”
Over the same period, more than 50% of UK workers were covered by a collective labour agreement while today the figure is below 20%, he added.
“These long-lasting tendencies deteriorated during the crisis due to the effort to address it through austerity especially in the periphery. Not only inequalities increased within EU countries but also the gap among central European strong economies and the periphery was widened,” Katrougalos said.
