Tag archive for ‘European Council’
Europe’s Keynesian Turn?
The Euro-crisis is transforming the continent radically. One of the consequences of the decisions taken by the European Council on May 9 could be the end of the conservative ordo-liberal German model of social market economy. The European Central Bank may become the best ally of Europe’s left. As part of the €750 bn. rescue [...]
The EU2020 Strategy and Europe’s Crisis – First Ensure the Survival of the EU!
Angela Merkel may have got just about everything else wrong, but she was right to tell the German parliament that urgent action is needed to save the euro area, otherwise the future of Europe is at stake. Europe’s reaction to the sovereign debt crisis has been an almost unmitigated disaster – denial, delay and dithering [...]
Where is the Money? Europe Should Keep its Promises
The following questions were hotly debated in last year’s European Council meetings: How much financial assistance should Europe deliver in the run up to Copenhagen? In which time-frame, and under which conditions? With the financial and economic crisis in the back of everyone’s minds, none of the 27 heads of state and government attending last [...]
The EU 2020 Strategy puts the European Social Model at Risk
For social democrats, the principles guiding any crisis exit strategy must be the smooth transition to a model based on sustainability and solidarity. This requires to recognise the social origins of the crisis and to draw the correct policy implications from it. This is not only a political, but also an ideological battle, as recent [...]
Europe’s Case of ‘Chief Executive Envy’
Every time Europe goes through one of its occasional crises, calls arise across the continent for ‘stronger leadership.’ The perception of having feeble leadership was a major factor in the push for the Lisbon Treaty, which went into effect late in 2009 and created a president for the European Council and a high representative for [...]
Why Obama snubbed the EU/US Summit
My mother was fond of telling me that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. I was reminded of her words when I read about Obama’s ‘snub’ of the EU in declining to attend the EU/USA summit in May. It is alleged that Obama declined because he could not face having to go down the wedding [...]
New Priorities for the EU Institutions
The priorities must be formulated, as always, in a manner that takes into account both form and content. I shall accordingly deal with both aspects, while placing greater emphasis on the latter. A first priority will be to ensure that the new institutional balance resulting from the Lisbon Treaty can be made to work. The [...]
The Winner is: Democracy!
Habemus Presidentem. With the Lisbon Treaty ratified, the European Council appointed the Belgian Prime Minister Van Rompuy as its President, and Lady Ashton as Vice-President of the European Commission. The echo has been devastating. The Financial Times has called it ‘a colossal failure of ambition’. However, the decisions by the heads of states and governments [...]
Down, but (definitely) not out
Social democrats need to work more closely together in Europe to reassert a policy agenda reflective of their values. Social-democratic parties are not dominating decision-making in Europe. The recent gain in Greece was matched with losses in Germany and Bulgaria, and in Portugal we retained control but lost absolute majority. This decline was reflected in [...]
Timing is NOT everything – Exit Strategies must also be credible and above all just
The battle-lines are already drawn up over when to begin withdrawing the stimulus measures that appear, for the moment, to have averted the widely feared global economic meltdown: on the one hand the inflation and deficit hawks who cannot wait for monetary policy to return to normal, and for fiscal policy to reign in the [...]
Tony Blair for President of the European Council
So the Irish voted “yes” and barring any last minute grandstanding from Vaclav Klaus, we will finally get the Lisbon Treaty. The debate now is about who will get the big jobs, starting with the full-time Presidency of the Council. Tony Blair is the hot favourite and would, in my view, be excellent for the [...]
Tasks of the New European Commission
The study group Europe of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has drawn up a list of tasks to be incorporated in the programme of the new European Commission over the next few years. Its detailed proposals should serve as a blueprint for political decision-making, as well as a set of benchmarks for the European Parliament and the European [...]
