Social Europe Is The Only Solution

Robin Wilson

The current crisis of legitimacy of the EU can be traced in a path-dependent fashion to its roots in the aftermath of World War II. Subsequent historical distance has elided together the anti-fascist popular consensus across the continent after the defeat and delegitimisation of Nazism with the elite integration ‘project’ which came to fruition in [...]

Discussing The Latest European GDP Figures

andrew watt

I was interviewed about the recent European GDP figures by CCTV America recently. This is what I had to say.

A Social Dimension For A Changing European Union

Jaroslav Zavadil

„It is exactly nine years since our country became a full member of the EU“. The Czech Republic set out to join the EU in a period dominated by the challenging process of transformation to adapt the economy to market conditions and in a situation in which its economy was remarkably open to the dramatic [...]

Europe Is Trapped Between Power and Politics: By Zygmunt Bauman

CC Derek Keats (Flickr)

That the disease which brought the European Union into the intensive-care ward and has kept it there since, for quite a few years, is best diagnosed as a ‘democratic deficit’ is fast turning into a commonplace. Indeed, it is taken increasingly for granted and is hardly ever seriously questioned. Some observers and analysts ascribe the [...]

Why We Need An Ambitious Social Europe

segol

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has, for many reasons, always been supportive of the European project, but primarily because this regional integration model aimed not only at economic integration but was also meant to foster social progress and full employment. We have stressed this point on many occasions over the years. The response from [...]

Democracy, Solidarity And The European Crisis: By Jürgen Habermas

euro

The European Union owes its existence to the efforts of political elites who could count on the passive consent of their more or less indifferent populations as long as the peoples could regard the Union as also being in their economic interests, all things considered. The Union has legitimized itself in the eyes of the [...]

The Erosion Of Europe

joschka

Just weeks ago, the worst of the financial crisis in Europe seemed to be over. Stability seemed to be returning. But appearances proved to be deceptive. A minor problem (at least in scale) like Cyprus, when combined with an almost unbelievable degree of incompetence among the “troika” (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and [...]

A Conference Of Parliaments For Europe: New Ways Of Interparliamentary Cooperation

Axel Schäfer

The various economic and budgetary policy governance instruments at the European level have achieved a regulatory density that a few years ago seemed barely imaginable. At the same time, the question also arises about the democratic legitimation of the new coordination mechanisms in which parliaments have only participated sporadically to date. Every parliamentary level thus [...]

For A European Republic: By Robert Menasse and Ulrike Guerot

europe

The European heads of state and governments are sitting in a burning house haggling over the total sum they will have to rustle up for the water damages from putting out the fire. The reproach that they have lost contact with the citizens doesn’t ring true: the fact is, they never had any to start [...]

A European Solution To The Eurozone’s Problem

george soros

My objective in coming here today is to discuss the euro crisis. I think you will all agree that the crisis is far from resolved. It has already caused tremendous damage both financially and politically and taken an extensive human toll as well. It has transformed the European Union into something radically different from what [...]

What Does The ECB Think It Is Doing?

simon wren-lewis

Or rather, why isn’t it doing something? Consumer price inflation is currently 1.7%. The OECD expects 1.6% as a whole for 2013, and 1.2% for 2014. The ECB sees downside risks due to the impact from lower activity, which it acknowledges is falling but which it hopes will recover soon. The OECD expects GDP to [...]