Add to this the support for important labour market reforms – the partial phasing-out of the early retirement scheme and reduction of the entitlement period for unemployment benefits. This will contribute to increasing structural employment considerably, thereby countering the demographically driven reduction of the labour force.
It is evident that the 2012 Finance Bill does not provide for any improvement of the structural government budget balance next year. This makes it even more important to tighten up in 2013 in order to maintain the fiscal stance. Anyone who is interested in current affairs can see that the euro area is in an economic and political crisis.