Finance specialist MPs debate Spanish bail-out, many critical voices

Spanish bank bosses should have their salaries maximised and be stopped from claiming bonuses as conditions for getting EU bail-out cash, Christian Democrat and Labour MPs said on Thursday.


Political party finance specialists and finance minister Jan Kees de Jager are debating the decision by EU leaders to lend Spanish banks up to €100bn.
‘We want to show our solidarity with Spanish citizens but not with the bank directors who have made a mess of it,’ Labour’s finance spokesman Ronald Plasterk is quoted as saying.
Approval
The first €30bn of the bail out is due at the end of this month, but needs the approval of all member states first.
This is unlikely to be an issue in the Netherlands, where most parties are in favour of the agreement.
The anti European PVV, the Socialists, animal rights party and ChristenUnie are opposed to making the loan. ‘We will not vote in favour of this as long as the conditions attached to the loan are not fully known,’ ChristenUnie’s finance spokeswoman Carola Schouten said during the debate.
Infrastructure
Meanwhile, the Dutch infrastructure ministry said Brussels has allocated €20m to the Netherlands for a number of projects. This includes €5m towards building a railway terminal and other facilities on the new extension to Rotterdam port.
This means the Netherlands will have been awarded around 10% of the EU’s total budget for infrastructural developments, minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen said in a statement.
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