Instituto Pablo Iglesias

Rubalcaba warns that the adjustment policies, the liberalizations and privatizations of the Washington consensus which were implemented in Latin American in the 90s and are intended to be transferred to the EU “only brought about unemployment, inequities and social unrest”
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The secretary general of the PSOE, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, warned today, during the closing session of the I Latin American progress Conference that, the measures of the so-called Washington consensus the World Bank and the IMF implemented in the decade of the 90s in Latin America and which can be summarized in adjustments, liberalizations and privatizations “only brought about unemployment, inequities and social unrest.”

Rubalcaba regretted that these same measures “are intended to be transferred to Brussels, while it has been proved that strict adjustments measures are only causing unemployment rates to increase.” In any case, he was proud of the fact that “those who then called him as a little more than an unpatriotic and orthodox politician, are accepting today that the rhythm of the adjustments must be softened and that it must be combined with investment and employment programs.” 

 In the opinion of the secretary general of the PSOE, these three principles of the Washington consensus “should be balanced out. The adjustments with investments, the privatizations with investment in social and employment policies, and the liberalizations with political control.”  

 Likewise, he urged Latin American countries no to forget “political and fiscal integration when advancing in the economic integration, otherwise, everyone, especially the progressives, will suffer a lot.” At the same time, he urged Latin American rulers to seize the opportunity to make reforms that strengthen the institutions, now that the economy is doing well.”