debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Paul Krugman picks up on the Eurostat statistics on wages and wage developments in the private sector across Europe. He concludes that the experiment of an ‘internal wage devaluation’ which the Euro Area in particular is trying to practise is very hard to achieve since downwards nominal wage rigidities (DNWR) are preventing nominal wages from falling. [...]
Pick a panel of scholars, as large as you like, who are able to sensitively understand social issues and ask them their opinion on the pros and cons of a major public intervention in Southern Italy. You will get a distinct response from each person interviewed, regardless of their political ideology. Conservative scholars, perhaps, will [...]
How would you describe the political situation in Italy? Well, it was easier to elect Pope Francis I. than a new Italian Prime Minister. The word “fog” was used by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, during a recent conference. One of the other conference speakers referred to Giorgio Napolitano as, “A sort of [...]
What is the point of Europe? The threat of an explosive disintegration of the eurozone – and with it of the European Union – is receding. But the confused outcome of Italy’s recent parliamentary election, with an upper house dominated by a party that campaigned on an anti-EU platform and a pro-European majority in the [...]
The outcome of the Italian elections should send a clear message to Europe’s leaders: the austerity policies that they have pursued are being rejected by voters. The European project, as idealistic as it was, was always a top-down endeavor. But it is another matter altogether to encourage technocrats to run countries, seemingly circumventing democratic processes, [...]
The overwhelming majority of Italian voters resoundingly rejected the politics and economics of austerity. This judgment by Italian voters is unlikely to meet with the approval of Troika of the eurozone. On the contrary, already we have calls for the new government to reject the popular will and continue those anti-social policies that Signore Monti [...]
At the beginning of Europe, there was Italy. Ancient Rome copied Greek culture, but politically the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean universe and set the agenda for future empires.[1] Later, the Renaissance in Florence invented modernity and from there “Western” values took over the world. Italy was also a founding member of the Treaty of [...]
Following the weekend’s elections, Italy now appears to be facing a hung parliament, with a centre-left majority in the Chamber of Deputies and a fragmented Senate. The real winner writes Valentino Larcinese, has been Beppe Grillo’s 5 Star Movement, which gained 25 per cent of the vote. He argues that the movement’s success illustrates that austerity is now [...]
Keep calm and accept the basic facts: No matter how much qualitatively better than Berlusconi, no left-wing coalition could ever achieve large majorities and broad popular support after having been part of a Grand Coalition implementing policies such as those contained in Monti’s austerity packages. To be sure, Berlusconi’s coalition was also bitterly defeated: Compared [...]
How Crisis Policies in Southern Europe Threaten the EU’s Social Dimension. The harsh austerity measures that, according to official policy, are supposed to overcome the euro crisis have once again plunged Europe into recession in 2012. Austerity policy has proved – in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIPS) – to be primarily an attack on [...]
For the crisis to end, Europe has to change. As it stands, we have a Europe bogged down by economics and losing its political identity, where growth and employment are stifled by tight budgets. But the single currency can be salvaged. To do so, regulations and economic policies must be reformed and countries (and economies) [...]
The more the evidence builds up on the disastrous effects of austerity on economic activity and jobs, the more those that are responsible for this failure become lyrical. The Commission’s autumn economic forecasts already carried the imaginative title of ‘sailing through rough waters’. Last Monday, an opinion piece in the FT can be read as [...]
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