madam president paragraph five of the report from the meeting says that policy measures will be presented to correct harmful and persistent macroeconomic imbalances and improve competitiveness but in the introduction the talk is of promoting trade with third countries
imports from third countries particularly the so-called emergent economies are the greatest single cause of trade imbalances and the inability to compete
it would be impossible for developed economies to compete with manufactured imports from these countries without driving our wages down to their levels
indeed this is hinted at in the section on page sixteen on fostering competitiveness
it says there will be assessments of wage and productivity developments and competitive adjustment needs
whatever does this mean
it could only mean one thing
wages must be adjusted downwards to make goods competitive with those of the emergent economies
while principles such as free trade are sacrosanct the economic interests of european workers it seems are dispensable
