UK: How big is Big Society?
The quiet that comes before the storm is not so quiet this time round. As the coalition government headed by David Cameron is announcing the country’s emergency budget measures (follow the speech live on www.guardian.co.uk), families, companies and charities all have something to say. Britain was hit hard by the global credit crunch because of its huge financial sector. The European Union warns that its deficit may reach 12% of GDP this year, four times the amount considered acceptable by the bloc and debt is expected to soar to 88% in 2011 or 2012. The conservatives have promised to cut debt and “get the country back open for business” but consumers have already stopped buying and charities have already started lobbying. First in line is the Charity Tax Group, which Third Sector magazine reports as already lobbying the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne for charities to be exempt from any VAT rises. “It seems strange that while the government is proposing to more with charities it would levy a tax that would mean they would be able to do less”, says Peter Jenkins, a technical adviser to the charity.
Voices from the field:
“We don’t yet have the full picture”, says Mike Locke, Director of Public Affairs at Volunteering England, a charity committed to the development of volunteering across the UK, but the obvious scenario is one that sees public agencies reducing their grants to voluntary organisations at a time when the demands on them are likely to increase. On the up side, he says, some organisations may grow as they on take on contracts from public agencies which are scaling down. Read the full interview here
Steve Day, 59, is co founder of two social enterprises working in the field of service design and delivery in the North of England, has a different take on the crisis. In his view less is not only more but better: “If you had a million pounds you might go out and buy a Maserati but if you had only 10 pounds you would have to get a bicycle. Now which one is better for you and the planet?”. Read the full interview here
Austria: Budget cuts steal the limelight
Chancellor Werner Faymann says he is calling for the repayment of the loan his SPÖ-ÖVP coalition government made to Austrian banks last year during the worst of the crisis. In June the government announced that it would be introducing the Bank Solidarity Tax. “The banks received support when they needed it. Now they should do their part,” justified Faymann. But 500 million euros – what the government predicts it will earn from this new tax- is a far cry from the six billion euros they lent the banks in 2009. Austrian citizens will make up the other 1.2 billion euros in additional tax revenue the government has announced. Austrians can also look forward to the government’s plan to cut 1.7 billion Euros from public spending over the next year. Finance Minister Josef Pröll promised that cuts would happen in “in an economically reasonable and socially bearable” way. Although so far “socially bearable” has spelt a 2.6 per cent dip in funds allocated to labor market initiatives and health issues. All this while the Austrian economy is said to have decrease by 0.3 per cent since last year and unemployment is predicted to reach 7.7 per cent. 2010 is going to be a tough year for Austrians.
Voices from the field:
Paul Schmidt, 34, is Secretary General of the Austrian Society for European Politics, Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Europapolitik, an organization founded in 1991 with the aim of informing the public about integration. As the Austrian government announces cuts in public spending of 1.7 billion euros next year, Schmidt explains what is in store for civil society. Read the full interview here
The Netherlands: divided over half an egg
In true Dutch no-nonsense style the reaction to the crisis seems to be: Een half ei is beter dan een lege dop, or “half an egg is better than an empty shell”. Indeed, compared to other European economies the Netherlands is admired for its fiscal discipline and envied for its generous welfare state. But elections early on in June have left the country divided, both in terms of who will rule the country and of what the solution to the budget deficit is. After several decades of left wing rule (under either the Christian Democrats or Labour), the liberal VVD party ousted the centre-left party 30 to 31, the far right Freedom Party taking a close third with 24 of the available 150 seats in parliament. What form the coalition government will take is topic of debate as the labour and liberals are divided over economic reform. The best Holland can hope for is 10 billion euros of budget cuts, anywhere between 1 to 10 billion euros in social benefit cuts, 2 billion euros in health care cuts and raising the retirement age by one or two years from 65. Whether this will be enough to ensure that the 16.6 million people living in the eurozone’s fifth largest economy will carry on receiving free child care, generous jobless benefits and the guarantee of a pension equal to 70% of the minimum wage to all over-65s remains to be seen. Should this not be the case, will civil society still be there to pick up the pieces of the welfare state?
Voices from the field:
According to Rutger van den Dool, spokesperson for Dutch NGO XminusY Solidarity Fund, civil society has already started feeling the blow of the economic crisis and jobs in the non profit sector are in short supply. The worst outcome of the crisis, however, may be the sector loosing its mettle in the public debate. Read the full interview here
Sweden: a diamond in the rough
European Union budget controls? Only for countries with financial problems, says Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt who feels it unfair that Sweden’s shining performance be treated the same as countries with runaway budgets. The European Commission’s plan to scrutinize the budgets of nation states before they go to national parliaments did not go down well in Sweden, a country that claims “good public finances” as other countries sink under the weight of soaring debt. The EC, however, brands Sweden as “optimistic” and highlighted that last year its economy suffered its largest annual setback since World War II when GDP dropped 4.9% from 2008. The deficit is another thorny issue as it is expected to swell to 3.4%, above the allowed 3% level. Worrying numbers from the workforce too: in just one month, from February to April, unemployment jumped from 9.1% to 9.8%.
Voices from the field:
Community activist Marium Osman Sherifay, chairperson of the Swedish Centre Against Racism, depicts a Sweden that is more rough than diamond. In the Stockholm neighbourhood of Rinkeby social tensions burst into violent riots in early June. A symptom of the recent economic crisis? Certainly – no jobs means no future. But the solutions are not so easily divined. Read the full interview here
Watch this space! VITAeurope will continue covering Europe’s welfare crisis, country by country. Let your voice be heard: write to v.sgardello@vitaeurope.org.
