Writing in the FT, Jeffrey Sachs takes a similar line to my recent column on the Greek crisis: recommending default as a policy option is extremely risky; Greece can pay its way provided interest rates are low; and rates can be low because as long as Greece is receiving EU/IMF support they are set, not [...]
If you had the Luck of the Polish?
30/06/2011 by
As Budapest passes the baton of the European Presidency to Warsaw, problems within the European Union and the eurozone continue to mount. Yet as Poland embarks on this historic task, it should be pointing out the relative success of its own economic policy, in contrast to that being purveyed from Brussels. With PM Donald Tusk [...]
Why Parties need to become Movements again
29/06/2011 by
Winning progressive parties in the 1990s were those that had learnt the lessons of the 1980s: that division, disorganisation and an obsession with a core left vote was no way to win. As a consequence from Blair and New Labour to Schroeder and the SPD’s Neue Mitte, progressive parties in the ‘90s embraced change through [...]
Greece – Where Success is Failure
29/06/2011 by
As I write, the Greek Parliament is voting on a new round of austerity measures. Parliamentary approval of the package is a precondition for the provision of the next tranche of EU-IMF aid, without which Greece will not be able to meet its obligations: it will default on payments next month at the latest. Almost [...]
Does Europe have a Death Wish?
29/06/2011 by
From the start of the Greek debt crisis in 2010, the major European players should have understood the risks and consequences that it posed for the European Union. They certainly don’t give that impression to onlookers. The crisis was always about much more than Greece: a disorderly insolvency there would threaten to pull other economies [...]
On Never Being Alone Again
28/06/2011 by
Two apparently unconnected items of news appeared on the same day, 19 June – though one can be forgiven overlooking their appearance… As any news, they arrived floating in an “information tsunami” – just two tiny drops in a flood of news meant/hoped to do the job of enlightening and clarifying while serving that of [...]
Social Democratic Parties need to be a Mirror of Society
28/06/2011 by
In most European countries there is a majority of people who could be reached by social democratic values and politics. Nevertheless social democratic parties have not been able to convince this majority over recent years. Some of the reasons for this development have been policy-decisions of social democratic parties, especially in government. But our parties [...]
Time to Act: A Strong Code of MEP Ethics is Needed
28/06/2011 by
“I am appalled by the sums of money mentioned in the newspaper article. I believe that to work as a consultant, using one’s public image as a member of the European Parliament, is not compatible with the values of the Socialists and Democrats group.” This was the immediate, robust response of Martin Schulz, leader of [...]
Open Letter: The EU needs Leadership to tackle this Crisis, not repeated Doses of Austerity
27/06/2011 by
Last week I wrote and coordinated the following open letter to European political leaders: The current eurozone crisis has been an important test for the EU; and it has not done well so far. For too long, Europe’s leaders have simply responded to unfolding events rather than directly confronting the root causes of the crisis. [...]
The SPD in the German Federal Elections 2013
27/06/2011 by
It is still some time to go until the next federal election in Germany – if the current government doesn’t completely collapse before then – but the debate about strategy and political direction is already starting. The International Policy Analysis Unit (IPA) of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has recently published an interesting piece as contribution to this [...]
Social Democratic Parties need a constant Dialogue with Citizens
27/06/2011 by
When the votes were counted after the re-election in the northeastern constituency of Örebro, the Social Democrats increased their votes in all electoral districts in the area, with a total of 47.2% of the votes. In no part of the constituency the result was less than 30.6% (which is what the Social Democrats received nationally [...]
The European Game of Chicken
27/06/2011 by
For the past year, commentators have been describing the euro crisis as a game of chicken. In the most famous version of the game, two cars race towards one another on a collision course. If at least one driver does not swerve out of the way (becoming the chicken) the game ends in catastrophe. The [...]
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