A Future That Works

A Future That Works
NO2aTory/Liberal coalition - Vote with your feet for an alternative to a neo-liberal economy and neo-conservative state Yes2aLeftFront and a Red/Green Left Alliance

Saturday 2 July 2011

Everything must go

The Greek government plans to sell €50bn (£45bn) of state assets by 2015, 39 airports, national post office, water companies, nickel miner and smelter, hundreds of miles of roads, a telecoms operator, shares in two banks, electricity and gas monopolies and thousands of hectares of land.

The Irish government plans to sell national airline Aer Lingus, ports, power stations and even the Irish National Stud hoping to raise could raise about €5bn.

In Spain the country's State Betting and Lottery (LAE) El Gordo (Fat One) valued at about €25bn. Portugal the utility company Energias de Portugal and the power-grid operator REN are up for sale along with the water utilities and state media interests such as television, radio channels and national news agency Lusa, state airline TAP and the airport owner ANA – which runs airports in Lisbon, Faro, Oporto and the Azores, insurance business of the state bank CGD. In Italy radio frequencies to be auctioned off to telephone companies valued at €2.4bn along with a package of €47bn in government cuts.

And in Britain the Tory/Liberal coalition intends to sell off its 49% state stake in the air traffic control service Nats and the Tote the state-owned bookmakers, the student loan book, the Public Data Corporation putting public data into the private sector, judicial buildings are up for sale reducing the number of courts, sell off HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier which was decommissioned in March 2011, the Commons will sell its wine cellar; the proceeds will fund a larger stock of cheaper wine for official functions. George Osborne hopes to raise £2bn form the sale of these assets.

1 comment:

  1. We are facing an assault on the post-1945 social-democratic consensus from the European Union and particularly from the Lisbon Program for Social and Economic Modernization 2000, Services Directive 2001 and from the EU Growth and Stability Pact which are aimed at reducing state expenditure on social services and for the introduction of market forces and privatization of heath care, education, pensions and all aspects of social welfare by 2015. The only group to put up any real opposition to this trend towards the Anglo-American free market model of capitalism and abandoning of the European model of welfare capitalism has come from the European Left and GUE/NGL grouping and currently led by Francis Wurtz, of the Parti Communiste Français MEP as President of the European United Left.

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