The European Parliament’s Assessment of the Troika: Good Points, Bad Timing

On 13 March 2014, the European Parliament finally approved the report assessing the Troika, a crisis-born body composed of experts from the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), designed to oversee the conditions attached to eurozone financial assistance. An objective assessment of issues linked with financial assistance is necessary, and could provide some interesting lessons for other countries, not least Ukraine, where a similar body is supposed to oversee US/EU/IMF assistance. However, the end of the political cycle and the accelerating European electoral campaign may see the baby thrown out with the bathwater.