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Europa: La tercera vía |
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EL MUNDO les ofrece la transcripción en inglés del documento firmado por Tony Blair y Gerhard Schröeder que recoge las líneas maestras de la nueva socialdemocracia, bajo el título: Europa: La tercera vía.
III. A new supply-side agenda for the left
The task facing Europe is to meet the challenge of the global economy while maintaining social cohesion in the face of real and perceived uncertainty. Rising employment and expanding job opportunities are the best guarantee of a cohesive society.
The past two decades of neo-liberal laissez-faire are over. In its place, however, there must not be a renaissance of 1970s-style reliance on deficit spending and heavy-handed state intervention. Such an approach now points in the wrong direction.
Our national economies and global economic relationships have undergone profound change. New conditions and new realities call for a re-evaluation of old ideas and the
development of new concepts.
In much of Europe unemployment is far too high - and a high proportion of it is structural. To address this challenge,
Europe's social democrats must together formulate and implement a new supply-side agenda for the left.
Our aim is to modernise the welfare state, not dismantle it: to embark on new ways of expressing solidarity and responsibility to others without basing the motivation for economic activity on pure undiluted self-interest.
The main elements of this approach are as follows:
A robust and competitive market framework
Product market competition and open trade is essential to stimulate productivity and growth. For that reason a framework that allows market forces to work properly is essential to economic success and a pre-condition of a more successful employment policy.
- The EU should continue to act as a resolute force for liberalisation of world trade.
- The EU should build on the achievements of the single market to strengthen an economic framework conducive to productivity growth.
A tax policy to promote sustainable growth
In the past social democrats became identified with high taxes, especially on business. Modern social democrats recognise that in the right circumstances, tax reform and tax cuts can play a critical part in meeting their wider social objectives.
For instance, corporate tax cuts raise profitability and strengthen the incentives to invest. Higher investment expands economic activity and increases productive potential. It helps create a virtuous circle of growth
increasing the resources available for public spending on social purposes.
- The taxation of companies should be simplified and corporation tax rates cut, as they have been by New Labour in the UK and are planned by the federal government in Germany.
- To ensure work pays and to improve the fairness of the
tax system, the tax burden borne by working families and workers should be alleviated, as begun in Germany (through the Tax Relief Act) -and the introduction of lower
starting rates of income tax and the working families tax credit in Britain.
- The willingness and ability of enterprises Ð especially small and medium-sized enterprises -to invest should be enhanced, as intended by the Social Democratic government in Germany through the reform of the taxes on businesses and as shown by New Labour's reform of capital gains and business taxes in Britain.
- Overall, the taxation of hard work and enterprise should be reduced. The burden of taxation should be rebalanced, for example towards environmental 'bads'. Germany, the UK and other European countries governed by social democrats will lead the way in this regard.
- At EU level, tax policy should support tough action to combat unfair competition and fight tax evasion. This requires enhanced co-operation, not uniformity. We will not support measures leading to a higher tax burden and jeopardising competitiveness and jobs in the EU.
Demand and supply-side policies go together -they are not alternatives
In the past social democrats often gave the impression that the objectives of growth and high unemployment would be achieved by successful demand management alone. Modern social democrats recognise that supply side policies have a central and complementary role to play.
In today's world most policy decisions have an impact on both supply- and demand-side conditions.
- Successful Welfare to Work programmes raise incomes for those previously out of work as well as improve the supply of labour available to employers.
- Modern economic policy aims to increase the after-tax income of workers and at the same time decrease the costs of labour to the employer. The reduction of non-wage labour costs through structural reform of social security systems and a more employment friendly tax and contribution structure that looks to the future is therefore of particular importance.
The aim of social democratic policy is to overcome the apparent contradiction between demand- and supply-side policies in favour of a fruitful combination of
micro-economic flexibility and macro-economic stability.
To achieve higher growth and more jobs in todayÕs world, economies must be adaptable: flexible markets are a modern social democratic aim.
Macro-economic policy still has a vital purpose: to set the conditions for stable growth and avoid boom and bust.
But social democrats must recognise that getting the macro-economics right is not sufficient to stimulate higher growth and more jobs. Changes in interest rates or tax policy
will not lead to increased investment and employment unless the supply side of the economy is adaptable enough to respond. To make the European economy more dynamic,
we also need to make it more flexible.
- Companies must have room for manoeuvre to take advantage of improved economic conditions and seize new
opportunities: they must not be gagged by rules and regulations.
- Product, capital and labour markets must all be flexible: we must not combine rigidity in one part of the economic system with openness and dynamism in the rest.
Adaptability and flexibility are at an increasing premium in the knowledge-basedservice economy of the future
Our economies are in transition -from industrial production to the knowledge-based service economy of the future. Social
democrats must seize the opportunity of this radical economic change. It offers Europe a chance to catch up with the United States. It offers millions of our people the chance
to find new jobs, learn new skills, pursue new careers, set up and expand new businesses -in summary, to realise their hopes of a better future.
But social democrats have to recognise that the basic requirements for economic success have changed. Services cannot be kept in stock: customers use them as and when they are needed - at many different times of day, outside what people think of as normal working hours. The rapid advance of the information age, especially the huge potential of
electronic commerce, promises to change radically the way we shop, the way we learn, the way we communicate and the way we relax. Rigidity and over-regulation hamper our
success in the knowledge-based service economy of the future. They will hold back the potential of innovation to generate new growth and more jobs. We need to become
more flexible, not less.
An active government, in a newly conceived role, has a key role to play in economic development
Modern social democrats are not laissez-faire neo-liberals. Flexible markets must be combined with a newly defined role for an active state. The top priority must be investment in human and social capital.
If high employment is to be achieved and sustained, employees must react to shifting demands. Our economies suffer from a considerable discrepancy between the number of job vacancies that need to be filled (for example in the field of information and communication technology) and the number of suitably qualified applicants.
That means education must not be a 'one-off' opportunity: lifetime access to education and training and lifelong utilisation of their opportunities represent the most important security available in the modern world. Therefore, governments have a responsibility to put in place a framework that enables individuals to enhance their qualifications and to fulfil their potential. This must now be a top social democratic priority.
- Standards at all levels of schooling and for all abilities of pupils must be raised. Where there are problems of literacy and numeracy these must be addressed, otherwise we condemn unskilled individuals to lives of low pay, insecurity and unemployment.
- We want all young people to have the opportunity to gain entry into the world of work by means of qualified
vocational training. Together with local employers, trade unions and others, we must ensure that sufficient education and training opportunities are available to meet the
requirements of the local labour market. In Germany, the political sector is supporting this endeavour with an immediate action programme for jobs and training that will
enable 100,000 young people to find a new job or training place or to obtain qualifications. In Britain the Welfare to Work programme has already enabled 95,000 young
people to find work.
- We need to reform post-school education and raise its quality, at the same time modernising education and training programmes so as to promote adaptability and employability in later life. Government has a particular role in providing incentives for individuals to save in order to meet the costs of lifelong learning -and in widening access through the promotion of distance learning.
- We should ensure that training plays a significant role in our active labour market policies for the unemployed and workless households.
A modern and efficient public infrastructure including a strong scientific base is also an essential feature of a job-generating economy. It is important to ensure that the composition of public expenditure is being directed at activities most beneficial to growth and fostering necessary structural change.
Modern social democrats should be champions of small and medium-sized enterprise
The development of prosperous small and medium-sized businesses has to be a top priority for modern social democrats. Here lies the biggest potential for new growth and jobs in the knowledge-based society of the future.
People in many different walks of life are looking for the opportunity to become entrepreneurs - long-standing as well
as newly self-employed people, lawyers, computer experts, medical doctors, craftsmen, business consultants, people active in culture and sport. These individuals must have
scope to develop economic initiative and create new business ideas. They must be encouraged to take risks. The burdens on them must be lightened. Their markets and their ambitions must not be hindered by borders.
- Europe's capital markets should be opened up so that growing firms and entrepreneurs can have ready access
to finance. We intend to work together to ensure that growing high-tech firms enjoy the same access to the capital markets as their US rivals.
- We should make it easy for individuals to set up businesses and for new companies to grow by lightening administrative burdens, exempting small businesses from onerous regulations and widening access to finance. We should make it easier for small businesses in particular to take on new staff: that means lowering the burden of regulation and non-wage labour costs.
- The links between business and the science base should be strengthened to ensure more entrepreneurial Ôspin-offsÕ from research and the promotion of 'clusters' of new high-tech industries.
Sound public finance should be a badge of pride for social democrats
In the past, social democrats have all too often been associated with the view that the best way to promote employment and growth is to increase government borrowing in order to finance higher government spending. We do not rule out government deficits Ð during a cyclical downturn it makes sense to let the automatic stabilisers work. And borrowing to finance higher government investment, in strict accordance with the Golden Rule, can play a key role in strengthening the supply side of the economy.
However, deficit spending cannot be used to overcome structural weaknesses in the economy that are a barrier to faster growth and higher employment. Social
democrats also must not tolerate excessive levels of public sector debt. Increased indebtedness represents an unfair burden on future generations. It could have unwelcome
redistributive effects. Above all, money spent on servicing high public sector debt is not available to be spent on other priorities, including increased investment in education,
training or the transport infrastructure.
From the standpoint of a supply-side policy of the left, it is essential that high levels of government borrowing decrease
and not increase.