Green New Deal is best strategy to keep Britain out of recession
11 December 2008
As Germany's Finance Minister lambasted the UK Government's ‘borrow and spend' style of economic policy today, the Green Party urged the UK to adopt a Green New Deal to provide an effective way to bring economic stability to the country.
Peer Steinbruck, the German Finance Minister commented in an interview with Newsweek magazine that Brown's ‘fiscal stimulus package would have little impact'.
Leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MEP, echoed Mr Steinbruck's criticisms, warning that Brown's ‘knee-jerk' economic strategy would do little more than encourage short term consumer spending, when what was needed was long term investment in a new low carbon economy. She urged the Government to put in place a Green New Deal for Europe - a package of economic measures inspired Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s - that will provide long term green jobs.
The measures would involve:
• Re-regulation of international finance
• An end to the subsides for coal and nuclear power
• A massive programme of public and private investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency to generate hundreds of thousands of green-collared jobs
The MEP said: "By directing resources into renewable energies fit for the 21st century, we can make the transition away from fossil fuels and avoid a huge economic downturn at the same time."
But as Dr Lucas welcomed Mr Steinbruck's views on Brown's economic policy, she highlighted the failure of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel - once dubbed the Green Goddess of Europe for pushing through tough climate change targets - to stand firm against pressure from the German industry lobby over the cost of going green at the UN climate talks in Poznan.
The South East MEP, who sits on the European Parliament's Environment and Climate Change Committees, said: "It is disappointing that Chancellor Merkel has caved in to the demands of the powerful German industry lobby. By kow-towing to industry demands, the Chancellor is effectively driving climate change problems not only for Europe but the rest of the world."
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