"A gun held to the head" of Cyprus and Portugal. That is the strong language used by several MEPs describing the Troika's role and impact on these two bailout countries.
Whilst the Troika monitors whether bailout countries carry out the required reforms, the European Parliament in turn will now carry out its own inquiry and scrutinize the Troika's programme. A European Parliament delegation is now visiting the affected member states. The delegation has already visited Portugal on 6 and 7 January and Cyprus on 10 January , and visits to Ireland and Greece are planned for 16 and 17 and 29 and 30 January.
Hearings in the Parliament with people involved with Troika decisions are also taking place, headed by Austrian MEP Othmar Karas and French MEP Liem Hoang Ngoc. Contributions from the budgetary control, employment and constitutional affairs committees are expected although inquiries are being led by the Economic committee.
Juergen Klute, a left-wing German MEP, stated that both Portugal and Cyprus "had very little room for manoeuvre in negotiating the reforms of the bailouts" and "the troika had very little interest in social measures (as) they were only concerned about cutting back the deficit".
Highlighting the Troika's lack of democratic oversight regarding the definition of the policies and measures to be implemented, Mr. Klute criticized the way these reforms were imposed on these countries "with basically no involvement of national parliaments or social partners". Focusing on Cyprus, he noted that the current economic situation differs greatly from what Troika and member states predicted when the bail-in programme was implemented on Cypriot banks.
According to Nils Torvalds, a Finnish MEP that is also part of the four-member delegation, local politicians should be taken into account and consulted in relation to their failed policies and governance. He stressed the importance of making politicians face the problems when they occur since up to now "the tendency all over Europe (is to) have a political system which drags its feet".
Eurozone member states have not been exempt from criticism, especially since they ignored Greece's problems and rigged deficit figures for such a long period.
This week hearings with the European Commission's top official in charge of bailouts - European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro Olli Rehn – as well as the former head of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet and the managing director of the European Stability Mechanism Klaus Regling, are scheduled to take place. The evaluation of the Troika will continue during the coming months and MEPs will vote on the inquiry's final report during the March plenary.