Oct 22/10 - Pt 1: European Austerity

PART ONE

It's Friday, October 22nd.

Afghanistan's election commission has thrown out more than 20 per cent of the votes cast in last month's election, because of ballot-box stuffing.

Currently, The other 80 per cent will stand, as they were stuffed in strict accordance with the law.

This is The Current.

European Austerity - panel

We started this segment with the sound of France's reaction to the government;s plan to raise the retirement age by two years. The last few weeks have seen workers striking across France. Flights have been cancelled, garbage is piled up and the country is perilously close to running out of fuel.

France's parliament could vote on the proposed retirement reforms as early as today. And the French government says its a crucial step to getting the the country's economy back on track.

But France isn't the only European country bracing for a period of government thrift. This week, England's chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, unveiled a budget that as we said, slashes welfare spending and cuts almost 500,000 public service jobs.

As governments around the world deliberate between stimulus or cuts to lift them out of their economic slump, Europeans, it seems are opting for austerity.

To give us some perspective on the implications of this we were joined by three journalists who cover the economy in Europe. Francesco Fontemaggi is the economics correspondent for the Agence Frances Press in Paris. Mark Hennessy is the London Editor for The Irish Times. And Gerrit Wiesmann is the Berlin correspondent for The Financial Times.

Articles: France in turmoil as nationwide strike over pension reform stretches on / Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery? / Britain's poor and powerful argue over who loses out most under UK's harsh austerity plan