Social Democrats share blame for euro crisis

At the congress of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the start of this week, numerous speakers criticised the ruling liberal-conservative coalition's handling of the euro crisis. But the SPD bears partial responsibility for the financial debacle, writes the left-leaning weekly magazine WOZ: "Now everyone's calling for stricter rules for financial markets, but saying nothing - apart from The Left party - about the fact that German policy permitted the risky bank transactions in the first place. For their part the social democrats and the Green party rolled out the red carpet for finance capital with their policy of deregulation. ... There was a financial market support plan with thirty legislative proposals, all of which were implemented - for example support for securitisation, the authorisation of derivatives, hedge funds and short selling, and preferential fiscal treatment for special purpose entities outside of bank statements. Everyone saw the opportunities, not the risks. Even the agreement of the grand coalition of 2005, the SPD and the CDU/CSU (led by Finance Minister [and SPD member] Peer Steinbrück), agreed to slacken regulation of the financial markets and dismantle bank supervision."

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