Radio Mundo Real

A report that has just been published by the Transnational Institute (TNI) of The Netherlands concluded that a group of financial, legal and accountancy companies including Rothschild, Lazard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers are "reaping huge profits" from the new wave of crisis-prompted privatizations in Europe.

In addition, "they also actively promote privatization", warns a press release issued by the TNI on February 18 to announce the launch of the new report titled "The Privatising Industry in Europe". This means that these huge companies that advise and recommend privatizations also obtain economic profits from them.

For the TNI, the privatizations of State-owned assets are key issues in agreements between, on the one side, the European Union and Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) and on the other side, the indebted countries such as Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. "...But there has been little examination of their track record nor an examination of who really benefits".

The new report by the TNI is a study about nine of the most relevant cases of privatization in Europe and it highlights the financial and legal corporate giants that are making millions with the new privatizing wave of the shock therapy.

The authors of "The Privatising Industry in Europe" are Sol Trumbo Vila and Matthijs Peters.