Austria to introduce balanced budget + 60% debt cap law

[Beet]

Congratulations to Austria but I wish Italy would do the same!

[Beet]

It just reduces the power of the democratically elected parliament, and therefor the power of the sovereign.

That's why I oppose balanced budget amendments except in the euro zone. But your guys'es goose was cooked when you gave up your currency.

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That's a good point. These amendments must be very carefully designed so that they are as difficult to get around as possible, preferably impossible to manipulate by any accounting techniques.

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Pretty much the entire euro project is a right wing project to export German rectitude to everyone else.

[Beet]

BTW:

The passing of the constitutional balanced budget amendment + 60% debt cap in parliament might not even be a sure thing now, because a 2/3 majority is needed to amend the constitution.

And SPÖVP doesn't have a 2/3 majority, so they would either need the FPÖ, BZÖ or Greens to do so.

And they are now bitching around and make demands.

The Greens refuse to vote for it, unless the ÖVP agrees to introduce a wealth tax - because the Greens fear that a constitutional balanced budget amendment + 60% debt cap would strongly cap spending for education and science.

The FPÖ on the other hand now says they want a referendum on any further payment to Greece and other struggling Euro members. They will not vote for it, unless it is made sure that future Austrian money is only spent on Austrians and not on bailouts.

And the BZÖ already wants the constitutional balanced budget amendment + 60% debt cap introduced with the 2013 budget and not starting in 2020. They also want to see the details of the planned austerity/reform package first and would only vote in favor if taxes are not raised.

http://derstandard.at/1319183227817/Nach-Treffen-Opposition-blockiert-bei-Schuldenbremse-weiter

Well of course, they're making demands in exchange for support, it makes sense to do as a political party. All meet-able demands, it seems, except for the FPO if it goes back on existing agreements. If the demand refers to new bailouts, then it would be reasonable as well (but it appears it does not).