MEPs: Replace troika ‘in interests of democracy’

The troika system should be dismantled and replaced with a structure that includes the European Parliament to ensure more democratic oversight, according to MEPs who will visit Dublin today.

One of the co-chairs of the group has asked why the troika insisted on making changes to Ireland’s social structures when the country’s economic problems were created by the banking sector.

The MEPs tasked with investigating and producing a report on the role of the troika in bailed-out countries and how democratic its decisions have been.

Ahead of their two-day fact finding mission to Ireland, the MEPs said that in future they should be involved in any bailouts of member states to ensure better democratic accountability.

Co-chair Liem Hoang Ngoc said that it was time to dismantle the troika and place the rescue system within the community structure of the EU, not leaving all power and decisions between the governments.

His co-chair, Austrian centre-right MEP Othmar Karas said that the structures were now in place to dismantle the inter-governmental system, with more than 200 people working in the Commission’s economic and monetary department having gained experience over the past few years, and with the rescue fund, the ESM, fully operational.