debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
With Europe bogged down by the financial crisis and its national governments failing or being voted out of office across the continent, Germany has looked like an island of prosperity and stability. Chancellor Angela Merkel has appeared to be the embodiment of the new strength of old Europe’s problem child, a country admired by some [...]
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 [...]
For those who have watched the Greek people humiliated by the troika’s ever more strident calls for austerity, it is easy to despair about ever seeing any real political change in a Merkozy-dominated Eurozone. But things may soon improve. Consider the following points. First, Europeans are beginning to wake up to the reality of ‘austerity’ [...]
Angela Merkel’s announcement that she will actively support Nicolas Sarkozy in the upcoming French presidential elections came as a surprise to many. And although I have not been a staunch supporter of Merkel’s European policy, I am convinced that she is doing the right thing. But I was also irritated that many Germans felt alienated and spoke [...]
Angela Merkel has made her choice: “I support Nicolas Sarkozy on all fronts,” she told reporters in Paris. This is not surprising. It is “perfectly natural” to support fellow conservatives, she explained. Yet, this alliance is dressed in historic terms: “It’s about the big responsibility we have, the construction of Europe. We are surrounded by [...]
As part of ECFR’s ‘Reinvention of Europe’ project, we are running a series of responses from leading thinkers and academics to Mark Leonard’s recent paper,‘Four scenarios for the reinvention of Europe’. The paper outlined four possible routes towards solving Europe’s current crisis, and argued that Europe’s main challenge was to solve the acute euro crisis without exacerbating [...]
It is not easy to detect where the euro debate stands after coming back from a holiday in India. In fact the euro crisis was hardly mentioned in the The Hindu, one of the most important Indian newspapers. However, I think there is a tangible game change happening this year. Still, we are faced with many [...]
It is now increasingly clear that what started in late 2008 is no ordinary economic slump. Almost four years after the beginning of the crisis, developed economies have not managed a sustainable recovery, and even the better-off countries reveal signs of weakness. Faced with the certainty of a double-dip recession, Europe’s difficulties are daunting. Not [...]
Irish democracy may become Europe’s focus in 2012, if the Merkel-Sarkozy ‘stability and growth union’ proposals are put to a vote of the Irish people. Any change to the Constitution of Ireland requires a referendum. The Irish Attorney General will examine the final wording of the fiscal compact in March before advising whether these proposals [...]
The Euro crisis may soon be over. This is what German Finance Minister Schäuble thinks and his view is finding an echo among a growing community in the financial markets. But is it true? For Chancellor Merkel and her followers, we are experiencing a debt crisis caused by irresponsible fiscal policies. Their remedy is therefore [...]
Yet again historians, sociologists, cultural studies academics, and political scientists betray their academic duty. Previously they’ve shied away, in numbers far too big for comfort, from the problems of immigration, integration and Islam. They became traitors to their own expert knowledge on human society by failing to, in a timely and loud fashion, single out [...]
The euro crisis has made Germany so important that anyone interested in the future of Europe – or even in economies outside the eurozone like the UK – now has to spend a lot of time trying to understand German thinking. As discussions continue about the details of the “fiscal compact” that will be agreed at the European [...]
SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: A Breakthrough Opportunity for Global Health http://t.co/VYXi6Wag SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: When Neo-Liberals drop their Mask http://t.co/saAJbUZH SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: At least nine EU countries in recession: stimulus urgently needed http://t.co/oNN0v98l SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: European Monetary Union: Doomed to fail or just another Stepping Stone? http://t.co/pMuqDvkA SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Creating Jobs in recession-hit Communities in Europe: Why Microcredit will not help http://t.co/zJb4XxJl SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: German State Elections send Merkel an Economic Message http://t.co/yVG4Xr5n SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Two dangerous Myths about a 'Grexit' http://t.co/vOhdnVIp SocialEurope Journal: SEJ Article: Finding a Way out of the Crisis – Growth and Employment in Europe http://t.co/Q8JhRRSg 
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