Centre-left MEPs told EurActiv that EU member states have lost the run of themselves in calling for anti-crisis stimulus measures to be withdrawn by the end of 2010.
EU finance ministers, meeting in Brussels earlier this week, emphasised the importance of combining cooperation on financial market regulation with "principles to underpin the coordinated withdrawal of short-term measures in labour and product markets".
The ministers then appeared to set a deadline of December 2010 for these steps, cautioning that some EU countries intend to extend their temporary measures beyond 2010.
"The Council calls for member states to withdraw these measures as soon as possible," a statement said.
UK Socialist MEP Stephen Hughes told EurActiv that he believes such steps could lead to a drastic leap in unemployment. The problem, as Hughes sees it, is that EU leaders are "obsessed" with drafting policies for Europe's financial architecture, and are ignoring the reality of what will happen if they accelerate exit strategies.
This drive for deficit reduction and fiscal consolidation, says Hughes, is distracting finance ministers from the fact that short-term measures such as those in Germany have shielded many workers from unemployment.
Take them away, and EU unemployment levels, expected to rise from their current 23 million to 25 million by the year's end, could be even higher, he argued. A better balance between timing exit strategies and attacking EU deficits must be found, he concluded.
Merkel keeping quiet until May election
Privately, many socialist politicians believe the driving force behind this development is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, they claim, wants to speed up the wind-down of costly German anti-crisis measures such as the 'short working week scheme' in order to tackle her country's growing deficit.
However, experts contacted by EurActiv dismissed such claims as speculation. German economist Jakob Von Weizsäcker of the influential Brussels economic think-tank Bruegel told EurActiv that Merkel is being deliberately coy about her intentions until key regional elections in May.
The North Rhine-Westphalia poll could prove crucial for Germany's centre-right federal coalition government, which currently also rules this key region. Should the coalition lose in Rhine-Westphalia, it would also lose its majority in Germany's second house, the Bundesrat.
With a cost-saving budget of severe austerity programmes now imminent, Merkel must tread a fine line between achieving her fiscal ambitions and not angering German public opinion, particularly in this industrial powerhouse region, he argued.
"There is a large degree of ambiguity about what precise measures will be taken until the May elections are over," he concluded.
