debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The economic and social consequences of lopsided policies focussed on lowering expenditure are fatal. Europe is threatening to fall apart as a result. Instead of the European crisis easing, it has worsened over the past two years and the credit risks which Germany is shouldering have not shrunk, but have grown significantly. The crisis from which [...]
Europe is debilitated with the effects of two years of desperate crisis management. The prescribed treatment resembles the old practice of bloodletting on ailing patients. Growing debts are paid with more loans, and new loans are made dependent on increasingly severe austerity measures. The results are a greater risk of recession, higher interest rates on [...]
Frank-Walter Steinmeier argues for political union in Europe and the harmonisation of taxes. The European Union is in the middle of the most serious crisis in its history, and everyone is looking to Berlin. We must show reliability, predictability and solidarity. The German Bundestag’s clear vote in favour of Europe produced a sigh of relief [...]
Europe is clearly in a serious crisis that requires courageous decisions of great magnitude to be taken. The SPD has concluded that the Federal Government must change its policies if it is to lead Europe out of the crisis. The party chairman, Sigmar Gabriel, and the chairman of the parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Frank [...]
The SPD has just been dealt a hard blow: the worst election result since the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany with just over 23 per cent (down from 34.2). Yet again, a European social democratic party has suffered a severe electoral defeat. What’s your opinion? What are the reasons? And what can be [...]
Germany will vote for a new federal government on Sunday and the polls predict a tight race between the red-red-green and conservative-liberal camps. Given the party’s announcements about potential coalitions, however, there are only two possible governments: a conservative-liberal (preferred by Angela Merkel) or another grand coalition. Yet one of the important questions is how [...]
The German social democrats announced yesterday that they are backing a global Tobin tax: “According to a report in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the SPD is proposing a modest tax rate of 0.05 percent on financial transactions based on the principle that the parties responsible for the global economic quagmire are also liable for the [...]
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