Farmers turn anti-austerity

EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso has set a difficult task for national EU leaders — to continue austerity programmes despite the passing of the worst of the economic crisis.

In Ireland’s case, the Commission recommends our Government widening property taxation well beyond residences, perhaps including farmland; reducing high healthcare expenditure; cutting excessive legal services fees; “improving” environmental taxes, and removing environmentally harmful subsidies.

Sizeable short-term savings cannot be achieved without reducing significantly the increase in social security spending, according to the Commission, adding that this implies curbing healthcare and pension costs, for example through setting more ambitious annual healthcare expenditure targets and temporarily freezing pensions”