debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
What has been economically obvious for some time even to the most obtuse or ideological observer has now finally had significant political consequences. The strategy of austerity plus market-oriented so-called ‘structural’ reforms pushed through by the centre-right governments and neoliberal-dominated European policymaking institutions has failed. This was a death foretold. Like in the episode of [...]
Sunday the 6th of May 2012 might become a significant date in European politics. The Greek election results and above all the election of Francois Hollande as new French President might be the start of political change in Europe. I (and others on SEJ) have argued for a long time that the Angela Merkel driven European [...]
An additional almost 200,000 Europeans were unemployed in March compared with February according to the latest Eurostat data. Of these the vast majority were in the euro area (169,000). The pace at which the labour market situation is deteriorating is, if anything, accelerating. Since March 2011, when ill-advised austerity and monetary policy tightening began to [...]
The crisis has shown the urgency of rejecting the neoliberal ideology currently dominating EU policy-making and reigning in the far-reaching influence of corporate lobbies. There has been a lively debate about the influential role of lobbying in Brussels over the last few years, centred on the lack of transparency around lobbyists’ activities. Scandals linking MEPs to [...]
The bad news in Spain continues unabated. 15% of all jobs have now been destroyed since the start of the crisis. Meanwhile, the IMF has suggested a public bailout of the financial sector may be needed: To avoid resolution costs becoming too high for the industry to bear, especially in a reasonable time period, greater reliance [...]
SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Kenya, Oil and Populism: Learning from Germany http://t.co/7lQ1UfWb SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: European Monetary Union: Doomed to fail or just another Stepping Stone? http://t.co/pMuqDvkA SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: German State Elections send Merkel an Economic Message http://t.co/yVG4Xr5n SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Public Finances in France: There are Alternatives (TAA not TINA) http://t.co/B0QL31d1 SocialEurope Journal: New column: "Finding a Way out of the Crisis – Growth and Employment in Europe" by Sigmar… http://t.co/OOskY0EH SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Creating Jobs in recession-hit Communities in Europe: Why Microcredit will not help http://t.co/zJb4XxJl SocialEurope Journal: New column: "European Monetary Union: Doomed to fail or just another Stepping Stone?" by Tom… http://t.co/MeegaiJR 
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