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A Breakthrough Opportunity for Global Health
Every year, millions of people die from preventable and treatable diseases, especially in poor countries. In many cases, lifesaving medicines can be cheaply mass-produced, but are sold at prices that block access to those who need them. And many die simply because there are no cures or vaccines, because so little of the world’s valuable [...]
Two dangerous Myths about a ‘Grexit’
Two myths about a Greek exit from the euro have recently gained traction. Both are misguided and both are extremely dangerous. Here are the reasons why. After the Greek parties failed to form a government and the country now heads towards new elections in June, everyone is talking about a possible exit of Greece from [...]
When Neo-Liberals drop their Mask
There are those moments when things become very clear. One such moment arrived last week, on the 9 May when the President of the European Commission presented the Commission’s statement for Schuman Day also known as Europe Day. This statement contains a number of enlightening comments, revealing the real thinking inside the Commission. First, there’s [...]
Grexit – A Ship of Fools
Everybody is saying it: Greece will go under and probably the euro with it. Indeed, not just on the Eurosceptic right but on the left too it has become oddly fashionable to welcome Greece’s exit from the euro. This is dangerous nonsense. If Greece leaves, the euro is almost certainly doomed. Nobody can be certain [...]
Finding a Way out of the Crisis – Growth and Employment in Europe
The economic and social consequences of lopsided policies focussed on lowering expenditure are fatal. Europe is threatening to fall apart as a result. Instead of the European crisis easing, it has worsened over the past two years and the credit risks which Germany is shouldering have not shrunk, but have grown significantly. The crisis from which [...]
European Monetary Union: Doomed to fail or just another Stepping Stone?
With talk of a Greek exit from the Euro now being treated seriously it can be informative to consider past experiences with monetary union. The normal fate for currency unions has been eventual failure and dissolution, and the history books are full of examples of such failures. By and large having some pre-existing form of [...]
German State Elections send Merkel an Economic Message
The recent elections in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) have produced a great result for the German Social Democratic party (SPD) and a crushing defeat for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). After a dozen years, and with a vote share of 39.1%, the SPD has re-emerged as the strongest party in Germany’s most populous state. The CDU, on the other hand, [...]
Democratizing the Eurozone
In recent months, more and more attention has been focused on the failure of the Eurozone leaders’ policies of fiscal consolidation, with growth presented as the alternative. The problems for the Eurozone stem not just from the policies, however. They also come from the governance processes and the politics—or lack thereof. Processes The main problem [...]
Blogs
At least nine EU countries in recession: stimulus urgently needed
The latest Eurostat flash estimate shows that at least nine EU countries are in recession, having posted negative economic growth in both the first quarter of 2012 and the last of 2012. In four of these Member States that makes three consecutive quarters of contraction and in Greece and Portugal output has been falling for [...]
The Euro Endgame
The Euro endgame is now on. And for the first time since this whole saga has started I see the likelihood that something is going to give soon as higher than the whole Eurozone staying together. It is not a forgone conclusion but it is hard to see where the political impetus to decisively change course is [...]
On Underwear Bombs
Two days after Social Europe published my note on soft power and hard facts, the press announced the arrival of the new terrorist Wunderwaffe: the underwear bomb… Just to remind you, the piece ended with a musing: Some people reckon that the collapse of the Soviet Union was triggered by Reagan involving Gorbachev in an [...]
Doubling Down
I guess we knew this was coming, but in the face of last Sunday’s election results and the broader evidence that Europe’s economic strategy is an utter failure, the usual suspects are, you guessed it, doubling down. Simon Wren-Lewis looks on in horror as the Dutch agree on completely unnecessary austerity measures, as a way of showing [...]
European Politics after the Greek and French Elections
The important elections in Greece and France are now behind us and the results will hopefully have a decisive impact on European crisis politics. The days after such important elections are also ‘talking heads’ time. I was on Al Jazeera International and on Sky News to discuss the implications of the election results for European [...]
European Democracy: 2012/2014 another Stepping Stone?
It has become common talk across the European Union to blame the Commission for being undemocratic, and a better representative of financial elites than of the people’s interest. Populist parties wallow in corrosive attacks on “Brussels’ diktats”, while mainstream politicians do not dare risk a stand in favour of Commissioners widely seen as unelected technocrats [...]
Europeanism and the Europeanisation of Family
Euroscepticism inside the European Union is not as thriving as Euro-doomsayers have suggested: in various elections in Europe in the last months, an overwhelming majority of Europeans have reasserted their support for pro-European parties. Yes, the eurosceptic fringe has been growing, but it is still only a minority. Nevertheless, in these trying times popular support [...]
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