debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
It was Friday September 2nd, 2011 when the troika of Greece’s creditors left Athens after two weeks of negotiations that failed to bridge the gap between the Greek government and the representatives of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. Their last unscheduled departure was in June 2011 when Papandreou’s government went [...]
Comparisons with medieval doctors can only spring to mind on reading about the further misery the (Commission, ECB, IMF) Troika is seeking to impose on the Greek economy. The (Greek) government predicted that the recession will reach 3.8 percent of gross domestic product next year but the troika believes that the contraction is likely to [...]
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 [...]
In return for getting access to additional financial resources from Europe and the IMF, Greece has now been forced to swallow yet another round of brutal fiscal tightening and social deregulation. One can already predict what its effects will be. The ‘spiral of death’ in which Greece is already trapped will intensify: Wage and expenditure [...]
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 [...]
Greek Premier Papandreou joins his Irish and Portuguese counterparts, Brian Cowen and José Sócrates. Having wielded the axe at the bidding of the Troika he now finds himself on the chopping block. Those insisting on the need for austerity and painful structural reforms make frequent reference to the importance of moral hazard and getting incentives [...]
Until very recently Greece was seen as a successful, catching-up European Union country, albeit with some worrying socio-economic blemishes. It is fast on its way to becoming what used to be called a Third World country. It is certainly being treated as such by the ‘troika’ of institutions (EU, ECB, IMF) offering it financial support [...]
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