debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
In almost every major media source, print, television and online, one of the first comments on the recent election in France was, will financial markets freak out? To the relief of many and the despair of others, they have not as yet. That this question would leap to mind, at least to journalistic minds, is [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“Vous verrez, Antoine; dans quelques années ils feront comme si je n’avais jamais existé…” (You’ll see, Antoine; in a few years they’ll act as if I never existed…”) remarks the dying President Mitterrand to his idealistic young biographer in the Robert Guédiguian film Le Promeneur du Champs de Mars. Yet sixteen years after Mitterrand’s death, [...]
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 [...]
Francois Hollande has emerged as the new leader of Europe. Like the biblical young David, he has dared to challenge the Goliath-like consensus imposed by German conservatives, according to which only cutting budgets can get us out of the crisis. If he wins the battle, he may well become the King of the European Promised [...]
There has been much criticism in Britain of Germany’s domination of the EU — of the country’s exporting its domestic rules to other member countries, and of its heavy-handed treatment of the UK over the Euro-zone crisis. Berlin is sensitive to such developments. And it gives a large portion of the blame to the UK. [...]
Following the result of the first round of the French Presidential elections, it seems that – at last – a new wind is blowing in the European sky. The much sidestepped “growth agenda” is slowly gaining currency in the European political discourse and calls for pro-growth measures, for a European growth strategy and for a reconsideration of [...]
At the moment, the Euro Area is stagnating, unemployment is rising and the entire banking system is dangerously fragile – in Nouriel Roubini’s phrase, we are watching a slow motion train wreck. But if the opinion polls are right, Francois Hollande will very soon be President of the French Republic and economic policy in the [...]
‘Fair taxation’ is a hot news item these days following Osborne’s March 2012 budget which scrapped the 50p marginal rate on the rich and further shifted the tax burden to the ordinary citizen (with a bit of bad news for ‘grannies’ thrown in). It cannot have escaped the attention of the judicious reader that the [...]
Professor Philippe Marliere of University College London (UCL) gives his inaugural lecture and analyses the Parti Socialiste Primary for the 2012 Presidential Election in France. This post is part of the ‘Basic Values Debate’ jointly organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Social Europe Journal. Read more on social democratic parties: ‘The Future of the SPD as a Catch-All Party’. The [...]
As part of the Basic Values Debate, jointly organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Social Europe Journal, we talked to Axelle Lemaire, the PS candidate for the North of Europe constituency, about social democratic values in France and Europe. The conversation was recorded at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung London Office on 16th March 2012.
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