BRITAIN'S Labour Party is attentively following the unprecedented seizure of economic powers by Belgium's coalition government last month.
Belgian MPs passed three laws giving Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene ex. ecutive power to raise taxes, cut social security budgets and set wage levels. These undemocratic laws remove the need for consultation, or parliamentary approval, for breakneck speed plans to force Belgium's economy to meet the harsh financial criteria set by the Maastricht Treaty for monetary union.
Britain's Guardian newspaper, which generally reflects the views of the Labour Party, suggested that the authoritarian laws could be an inspiration "Belgium is showing how far EU member states other than Britain are prepared to go for economic and mone tary union, even at the risk of social tension, as occurred in France last year" cooco me dally s brussels correspondent, Stephen Bates.
The ruling classes in Belgium and Britain share similar historical roots and current tasks. Most favour sharp cuts in social spending by the state and want risky privausations to reduce budget deficits and longer-term state debt. However, these two ruling classes are not strong enough to impose these policies to the full on the governing parties. Pressure had mounted on belgium s coaltion in the months before the emergency powers were given to Dehaene. The Christian Social Party (CVP), a rightist Christian party in the coalition, had exposed how a £200 million cuts package in health spending agreed in 1993, had been circumvented. Despite the formal policy, billions of francs had been spent on new technology, radiology, family health and other essential health projects.
The same day, national Social Security directors announced that spending was on course to be £800 million over budget in 1996. Increased claims for pensions. sickness benents and aid for the unemployed were blamed. A worried Finance minister Phillippe Maystadt does his own bit to help reduce the EU wine-lake The same month, EU chiefs had hauled the Belgian finance minister, Phillipe Maystadt, over the coals for failing to cut the state spending enough. Maystadt emerged from the high-profile meeting committed to a new plan to reduce the state debt. New privatisations were top of the list.
Britain's government has also failed to bring the economy on line for monetary union. Indeed, the relative improvement of the economy is due to the Conservative government's abandonment of the project of European monetary harmonisation.
The failure of the British and Belgian states to implement fully the austerity policies favoured by their ruling class backers is part of a historical pattern. As these states had flourished in the period of imperial plunder, the working class lends to abaort the ideas of the ruline