debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Is there any topic less sexy than the ‘social dimension’? Even defining what it is can be tricky as there are many definitions out there so it tends to get mixed up with other terms. It is often used as the equivalent of ‘Social Europe’ or the ’European Social Model’. The debate also pops up [...]
Will a reinvigorated European Employment Strategy Be Up To The Job? Through the so called roadmap for a ‘genuine’ Economic Union, Europe is in the process of strengthening its power to intervene in Euro Area member states and to impose flexible labour markets and flexible wages. As described in a previous contribution, this roadmap therefore constitutes a serious [...]
With respect to the social and political dimension, the current state of the European Union is characterised by rising inequalities of incomes and wealth, skyrocketing youth unemployment rates, taxpayers in Ireland, Spain, Greece bailing out bond holders in Germany and France, and by eroding democratic rights through de-facto application of the “one dollar, one vote” [...]
For almost three years the focus of discussion and policy action in the European Union, and especially the so-called euro zone, has been unrelentingly reactionary, bank bailouts, budget cuts, contracting economies and growing unemployment. Such depressing news and reactionary politics have driven many, myself included, to doubt the wisdom of ever having started down this [...]
These are dark times for trade unions and workers. They face a strong and European wide political consensus claiming that Member States should exit the crisis by cutting wages and weakening collective bargaining systems. The old and ancient instrument of a devaluation of the national currency is to be replaced with wage devaluations. In Portugal, [...]
Last week I blogged about how the euro-crisis poisoned the way we talk about each other in Europe and I argued that this starts getting dangerous. I am happy to see that this observation has found its way into the FAZ Feuilleton and that even the FAZ starts to get concerned about this, although the paper’s take on the [...]
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