debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Ireland’s debate on the fiscal compact treaty is being filled out by wider movements in European politics which give it heightened salience and topicality. Whichever side can best claim ownership of these movements is likely to win the referendum campaign. The French presidential election and the Dutch political crisis joined last week to put popular [...]
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 [...]
A recent speech delivered by Mr Asmussen (Executive Director of the ECB) at a seminar organised by the IIEA in Dublin (The Irish Case From An ECB Perspective), gives powerful (though unintended) grounds for a ‘no’ vote in the forthcoming referendum. Mr Asmussen emphasised that from an ECB perspective it was of the ‘utmost importance’ [...]
In March 2010, writing in this newspaper, 28 economists, social scientists and economic analysts – including many of the present writers – warned that an economic approach based on spending cuts combined with tax increases on low and average earners would bring about a low-growth, high-debt and high-unemployment future. Instead, they argued for an investment [...]
Oh, my: Mr. Katainen, the 40-year-old leader of one of the euro area’s last remaining triple-A-rated countries, spoke more optimistically in his public comments of “growsterity,” a form of austerity that allows for some targeted measures to encourage growth, like Finland’s decision to grant tax relief for research spending by companies despite sharp budget cuts [...]
These days, Europe appears to be a cold place viewed from the periphery in Ireland. We are being bailed out and supported in many ways by the Troika of the EU, ECB and IMF, but the terms imposed upon citizens largely reflect the liberal economic perspective. We are four long years into austerity. Indicators are [...]
Once upon a time, former PES President Poul Rasmussen called the Barroso team “Chicago boys”. Now, Green leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit talks of “neoliberal Taliban”. Understandably, the President of the European Commission is not amused. So, let’s look at the facts: According to the Commission’s reading, the deepest financial and economic crisis since the 1930s is [...]
The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance is flawed in many respects. Martin Wolf, writing in the Financial Times on 6th March, itemises some of these flaws. The obvious one is the requirement in clause 1b limiting the ‘structural deficit to 0.5% of GDP’. Countries must adjust rapidly to this position as agreed by the European Commission. In [...]
I think there are some good reasons to believe that something has got to give very soon. It looks like the wheels are coming off the Eurocrisis strategy of kicking the can down the road and throwing crisis countries into a recession/depression. I won’t repeat the reasons for why austerity is wrong – numerous authors have done this on SEJ [...]
Since 2008, the world has been witnessing a struggle between politics and financial markets. The objective of a number of policy-makers is to limit the power of the financial industry to avoid another rescue package. The objective of the financial industry is to protect itself from economic interference. The result of this uneven struggle seems [...]
The Eurozone crisis has been a battle over who will ultimately be liable for the billions worth of actual and potential losses on sovereign debt held by European financial institutions. With neither the issuance of collectively backed Eurobonds nor the use of the European Central Bank (ECB) as lender of last resort initially available as [...]
Al Jazeera International produced a good roundup of the current problems of the Eurozone. I gave my two pennies worth at the end of the report: With the eurozone recession set to get worse, world leaders (…) will have to face a number of challenges. For two years the debt crisis has loomed over Europe. Greece, [...]
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