The EU Financial Crisis: Austerity and Expansion

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 2, University of Vienna (Institut für Europäische Integration), course: Political Economy of European Integration, language: English, abstract: In this paper I analyse the recovery plans for Ireland by the EU Commission and the Irish government, as well as the developments of the Irish economy throughout its crisis. I find that both the austerity and growth measures are of vital importance to the country's recovery and as such the same can be said for the rest of the European Union. Ireland is on its way back to a stable economy. The GDP, inflation and the current account are rising, but the country still faces challenges with unemployment and an ever increasing pile of debt. Greece and other countries affected by the crisis and now under the Troika programme, should take Ireland as an example, but the EU will have to do its part to help these countries with their growth programmes, instead of persisting on strict austerity measures alone.