Austrian chancellor disempowers his people on ESM

The Austrian parliament votes this Wednesday on the ESM European bailout mechanism and the fiscal compact. Although the coalition government made up of the social democratic SPÖ and the conservative ÖVP will be able to pass the package with the help of the Greens, the SPÖ should have put up a little more resistance to Chancellor Werner Faymann, the left-liberal daily Der Standard writes: "Faymann talks of more democracy but is happy to rule without regard for anyone else's views. Not just regarding the fiscal compact were facts created at an EU level before voters and parliaments were even aware of what this entailed. ... These are no mere bagatelles. Many of the rules hidden in these countless paragraphs transfer power over financial policy to the EU Commission. ... The vital goal of a common EU economic policy doesn't justify all the means to achieving that end. The disenfranchising of the representatives of the people in favour of a poorly controlled executive is a deal the parliamentarians should fiercely oppose."

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