German Bundestag Bundestag Printed Paper 17/

17th electoral term

Motion for a Resolution

tabled by Members of the Bundestag Dr Barbara Höll, Dr Axel Troost, Dr Gesine Lötzsch, Dr Dietmar Bartsch, Steffen Bockhahn, Roland Claus, Michael Leutert and the Left Party parliamentary group.

on the third reading of the Government Bill

- Bundestag Printed Paper 17/1544

Draft Bill on the assumption of guarantees to preserve the financial solvency of the Republic of Greece necessary for financial stability within the monetary union (Währungsunion-Finanzstabilitätsgesetz, WFStG)

The Bundestag is requested to adopt the following motion:

I. The German Bundestag notes:

The answer to the Greek financial crisis must be help and regulation. The private profiteers and those who have caused the Greek financial crisis must be held accountable. Providing financial aid for Greece and withdrawing the obligations imposed by the eurozone and International Monetary Fund are necessary in order to prevent a prolonged depression in the Greek economy. At the same time regulatory measures must be taken against the financial markets in order to fight the causes of the crisis and to prevent further crises in the eurozone.

Since the G20 Summit in Washington in 2008 Federal Chancellor Merkel has promised that it must no longer be possible for politics to be blackmailed by the players in the financial markets. The financial crisis in Greece has made it clear that the Federal Government has not honoured this promise. Three years after the beginning of the financial crisis, to date not one single effective measure has been adopted against the dictates of the speculation business. All that has happened is that the assets and profits of the banks have been repeatedly saved. The financial aid for Greece that has now been decided on by the Federal Government is also, in reality, nothing more than a new bank rescue package. The coalition parties are using cheap chauvinism towards Greece and the Greek people in an attempt to conceal their failure and the fact that they are serving the interests of the banks.

Federal Chancellor Merkel refused to provide rapid assistance to Greece in the run-up to the Land (federal state) elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. The speculators have used the Chancellor as cover in order to gamble on national bankruptcy in Greece. This has further increased interest rates on government bonds and the national debt in Greece. The Chancellor is responsible for the increased risks for taxpayers and for the danger of a major conflagration in the eurozone.

Anyone who wants to defend democracy against the financial markets must effectively curtail speculation. Credit default swaps (CDS) and short selling must be prohibited immediately, and the financial transaction tax and a levy on banks and insurance companies must now be introduced at German and international level. Measures must be taken that end the practice, which was responsible for the crisis, whereby EU Member States compete to attract businesses by offering the lowest salaries, taxes and social standards.

The conditions for the financial aid from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund, in particular the entirely unreasonable interest rates, are not appropriate to overcome the economic crisis in Greece and to curb its debts. They are socially unjust because they shift the costs of the crisis on to Greeks on lower and middle incomes whose standard of living is, in any case, already very low given average monthly incomes of €700 to €900. It will bring in a further round of cuts in social welfare and wage dumping throughout the EU, and will stall the economic recovery. Consequently, the resistance of the Greek unions and social movements have an important role in preventing further wage and social dumping.

The foreign trade imbalance towards Greece is caused to a considerable extent by German arms exports to Greece. A reduction in expenditure on German armaments alone would relieve the burden on the Greek budget by an amount corresponding to 1.5 percent of national income.

The Federal Government's policies neither make a lasting, effective contribution towards helping Greece out of its funding crisis, nor will they avert further crises for the eurozone. In addition, private financial market players who contributed significantly to the Greek financial crisis and have profited from it are not participating in the funding.

II. The Bundestag asks the Federal Government:

1. To prohibit credit default swaps (CDS) and short selling in Germany with immediate effect and to campaign for their prohibition at international and EU level;

2. To introduce the financial transaction tax at national level at once and to campaign for its introduction at international and EU level;

3. To introduce a levy on banks and insurance companies based on the US model, with the exception of the savings banks [Sparkassen] and cooperative banks [Genossenschaftsbanken], which would produce surplus revenues of at least €9 billion per annum for the public budget;

4. To procure a moratorium at national and EU level for Greek government bonds whereby the owners would defer debt servicing for at least three years, and to investigate whether a rescheduling of Greek public debt and an obligation on large private banks to hold Greek government bonds as forced loans could contribute to providing long-term relief for the public finances in Greece;

5. To impose a special levy on large bonuses in the financial sector;

6. To oppose the conditions forced on Greece by the IMF and the EU and instead to exert pressure on the Greek government to ensure budgetary consolidation, in particular through the following two measures:

a. Arms and military expenditure must be rapidly and decisively reduced and an import ban on armaments must be introduced. In parallel to this, the Federal Government must implement a complete ban on arms exports.

b. The rich and wealthy must be taxed much more heavily than previously, tax enforcement must be ensured and corruption must be fought effectively;

7. To introduce a fundamental shift of direction in its economic policy aimed at foreign trade surpluses and negative competitiveness with other economies, and in particular to end German wage dumping and to expedite in the EU and the eurozone fundamental structural reforms which would oblige EU countries to have balanced foreign trade and coordinated economic, wage and tax policies. In this connection the Federal Government must campaign for corresponding changes in the European treaties.

Berlin, 6 May 2010

Dr Gregor Gysi and parliamentary group