Revolting Europe

According to legend, the bailouts of countries of Europe’s south have been costly for Germany and other northern countries such as Finland, Austria and Holland. Hence their obsession with policies of ‘rigor’ and deficit reduction. The truth is that they have earned tens of billions of euro from the south. Maurizio Ricci shows how. Someone – possibly Angela Merkel … Continue reading »

As French radicals march in Paris Sunday against the austerity policies of Socialist President Hollande, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, co-leader of the Left Party and last year’s Presidential election candidate for the radical Left Front, argues for a broad popular front of resistance. Interview by French Communist daily Humanite: Francois Hollande’s poll rating is very low. How do … Continue reading »

Privatisation has benefitted the very few, leading to massive job losses, delivering a bad deal for consumers and sowing the seeds of today’s financial and economic crisis, and yet the process goes on, says Marco Bersani. In an extract from his new book, Bersani surveys the case of Italy, home of one the world’s largest public … Continue reading »

By Juan Torres Lopez 70 years ago a very important Polish economist, Michal Kalecki, published an article (Political aspects of full employment) that I think has a great relevance today, particularly this May Day. Kalecki started out by recognizing that when he wrote that a substantial majority of economists believed that, even in a capitalist … Continue reading »

The ‘grand coalition’ between the Democratic Party and Berlusconi’s right-wing  People of Liberty party means it’s time to say goodbye to the ‘centre-left’ and hello to a new Italian Left, says Marco Sferini. For the first time after the death of the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party , the bourgeois forces find themselves politically … Continue reading »

Why Merkel has no choice to pursue austerity in Europe, despite its catastrophic social and economic consequences. And to save Europe, the Eurozone must be ditched. By Jacques Sapir  Thanks to the combined effect of austerity policies, the Eurozone is sinking into crisis. Yet never have debates on economic policy been so intense. Political leaders, both Germany … Continue reading »

By Victor Quintana Like medieval plagues, structural adjustment programmes implemented through southern Europe economies are destroying families, trampling on social rights, eliminating jobs, and making life precarious. Burying the hopes of the populations are the political parties that rotate in equal doses in one failed government after another. Given the right-wing and social democratic alternance … Continue reading »

Nothing is where it should be. Without a government at Palazzo Chigi, Italian politics is displaced. And as the “Offshore Leaks” scandal has revealed, the economy has meanwhile moved to tax havens, says Mario Pianta Nothing is where it should be. A Palazzo Chigi, the prime minister’s office in Rome, there’s no government resulting from … Continue reading »

The tax evasion revelations about former Socialist budget minister Jerome Cahuzac shows it is time to end the revolting door between government and large private companies, and the impunity of the oligarchy, says Martine Billard of the Parti de Gauche. The Cahuzac affair demonstrates, if any further proof were needed, how the mix of finance, politics and the media … Continue reading »

Europe today is facing, on the one hand, the rise of  ”apolitical” technocratism, and on the other, right-wing authoritarian government. The Continent needs a democratic alternative, or else we are heading towards a disaster that will bring enormous suffering to the popular classes in the name of the ruling financial and economic elites, says Vincent Navarro … Continue reading »

IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MICROMEGA Paolo Flores d’Arcais Today, Saturday, March 23, there will be two piazzas in Rome, two ways of understanding politics, two Italies. In Piazza del Popolo, there will be Berlusconi supporters, devoted to immeasurable wealth and financial and media power, motivated by contempt for the Constitution of the Republic that … Continue reading »

Governments can and should impose a tax on the wealth of the super-rich to help resolve Europe’s banking crisis, says Attac Cyprus is experiencing a banking crisis of Irish or Icelandic proportions: a bankrupt banking system, which the European Union is demanding taxpayers bail out. Ireland and Iceland took radically different decisions, one favourable to … Continue reading »

by Daniel Albarracín Desperate Cypriots will today only be able to take out 1,000 euros from ATMs . They know they will soon have to pay a “financial solidarity tax”, taken from their savings to rescue the private banking system. And to protect all those international creditors, so they can still receive money for debts … Continue reading »

This year’s Forbes’ billionaires list shows a super rich elite getting richer as most European citizens get poorer A tiny elite are getting richer, the rest of us are getting poorer. This is a familiar story in a world where greed and extreme wealth are central to the dominant capitalist system, and its periodic crises, … Continue reading »

Women are disproportionally affected by austerity cuts because they are society’s main carers, and the main users of public services and welfare recipients, where there have been heavy reductions in budgets; they predominate in low paid, insecure employment, which is expanding, facilitated by labour counter-reforms; because they are heavily employed in the public sector where … Continue reading »

Portugal’s Left must seize the moment offered by an escalating social struggle and unite around a radical platform of change, argues Left Bloc’s Jorge Costa Saturday’s massive demonstrations across Portugal have changed the immediate future of social struggle in our country. Those who want to avenge the Carnation Revolution of April 25 1974 now know, after the … Continue reading »

IN THE RADICAL PRESS / IL MANIFESTO By Donatella della Porta Italy’s elections certainly did not produce the best possible outcome, but nor, for the anti-austerity cause, did they produce the worst. Two other results would certainly have been much more risky. One, a very close victory for the Right, with or without Monti, would have … Continue reading »

Footloose, unaccountable global finance, privatization and a justice system that’s soft on white collar crime: these are the roots of the rising tide of sleaze in Spain and elsewhere. Governments must stop providing the corrupt with the weapons to commit their crimes says Juan Torres López Corruption is an old phenomenon and is spread throughout the … Continue reading »

Grillo’s success and failure of Monti and the peninsula’s two main parties is a sign of a growing European revolt that has finally started in Italy too, says Giorgio Cremaschi The markets have reacted badly. It was obvious, banking and finance wanted the victory of the Democrats, working with Monti. Moreover, if elections had delivered victory … Continue reading »

Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement have emerged as the single largest party in Italy’s elections held 24-25 February. But what do we know of his policies? Here’s a recent analysis by economist Vladimiro Giacché: In dealing with the economic programme of the Five Star Movement we should first clear up in advance possible misunderstandings. … Continue reading »

What is the European crisis? One answer is that it makes the privatization of public assets inevitable, delivering big profits for private individuals and organizations. As Greece, Spain and Portugal demonstrates. Europe is being sucked into a downward spiral caused by counterproductive measures, while the crisis carries on its slow, relentless work. Families, if they … Continue reading »

By Eduardo Garzon On Tuesday 12 February 2013, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, stood before Spain’s parliament to explain the actions of the ECB in the Eurozone. Leaving aside the shameful and undemocratic fact of a closed hearing (and how absurd it was, because then the speech was published on … Continue reading »

It is possible to cut finance down to size and emerge from the crisis. To make the banks pay without falling foul of European rules. And even to convince the IMF of its strategy. Giacomo Gabbuti looks at the lessons from Iceland While they were turning off the lights at that circus that is Davos, Iceland … Continue reading »

Corruption in Spain is an intrinsic part of the crisis as politicians’ subservience to financial power is exposed. It is time for Spaniards to act, argues Esther Vivas No doubt. We are in the hands of thieves. The Barcenas, Pallerols, Crespo, Nóos and Mercurio cases, added to the Gürtel case, Millet, Champion, Pretoria and many … Continue reading »

In an open letter ‘to the political leaders and health authorities in Europe,’ representatives of medics and other leading health professionals in the four of the most badly hit EU countries have demanded an urgent review of austerity policies to ‘prevent further deterioration of health and health services.’ The letter, unveiled Tuesday in Lisbon by … Continue reading »

The Troika did not come to pay salaries, it came to rescue banks, every penny taken from workers will profit the financial markets. So here’s to  all the workers who have been on strike. They are the voice of the country that is not enslaved. The last few weeks have been marked by a series … Continue reading »

Homelessness is on the increase in the EU, with rises recorded in most member states, as the economic crisis and austerity policies hurt the most vulnerable. Immigrants, women, families and young people are making up a growing proportion of the homeless, while cuts in welfare, housing, health, probation services, education and training are aggravating the … Continue reading »

The richest people in the world got even more obscenely rich in 2012, collectively becoming $241 billion wealthier, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 100 wealthiest individuals. Among them a great many Europeans. Bloomberg reports: The aggregate net worth of the world’s top moguls stood at $1.9 trillion at the … Continue reading »

Wednesday two of Italy’s three trade union confederations signed a ‘productivity’ deal that sees employers gaining greater ‘flexibility’ to alter contracts and working conditions, with negotiations over labour contracts dealt with at a local level and not through sector-wide collective labour agreements. The largest union confederation CGIL rejected the deal. In return for this the … Continue reading »

A new privatisation bonanza is underway in southern Europe, with Greece and Portugal leading the way. But recently published research shows the trend in recent years in Europe has been in the opposite direction as it becomes ever clearer that there are no benefits – except for the corporations and fat cats The European economic … Continue reading »

A new European Progressive Economists Network has launched a radical plan to rescue the Continent from austerity and the terror of finance with a democratic and green model of development that brings the banks under social control and promotes public services. The network includes Belgium’s Econosphères, Spain’s Econonuestra, France’s Economistes Atterrés and Italy’s Sbilanciamoci! and … Continue reading »

By Giorgio Cremaschi And so between the tear gas and cherry bombs, the Greek parliament has approved a new raft of social cuts, imposed by the usurers of the European Troika in return for a bit of credit. This new installment of spending cuts imposed by all, I repeat all, governments in the European Union … Continue reading »

By Vincent Navarro The ruling Conservative and liberal parties, both in Spain and in most European Union countries, including the Eurozone, are implementing policies that result in: 1) labour reforms that reduce wages and increase unemployment, 2) the shrinking of the labour force, 3) reduction of social protection, 4) social spending cuts, 5) the privatization of … Continue reading »

IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MICROMEGA Interview with Emiliano Brancaccio The mission that  Emiliano Brancaccio – the brilliant Neapolitan economist – has given himself seems difficult. None other than breaking a taboo that has been created around the doctrine of free trade. His thesis is that with the crisis of capitalist globalization, new forms of … Continue reading »

Statement by Gabi Zimmer, president of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament: “Although the schedule for the banking union has now been decided – the rulers have once again cheated and avoided clear commitments, rectifications and urgent decisions. In the conflict between different interest groups and in the battle to claim back lost ground, … Continue reading »

By Maria Dolores Amoros The problem with Catalonia is not its desire for independence, but that the Catalan public has fallen into the trap of Convergence and Union, or Convergència i Unió (CiU), headed by Artur Mas, the Senyoret. Mr. Mas has shown  acting skills worthy of a professional actor, and a cunning that should … Continue reading »

Today thousands are expected at a national demonstration in Paris against the EU Fiscal Compact AKA Permanent Austerity Treaty. Below is a joint statement signed by campaigners, unions and radical left political parties who will be participating in the protests. ‘The President wants to ratify the” fiscal compact “, as it was signed by Nicolas … Continue reading »

From Il Manifesto’s correspondent Argiris Panagopoulos The Tsunami of fresh cuts will see the abolition of the thirteenth and fourteenth annual wage packets, a rise in the retirement age form 65 to 67 years, cut backs to  pensions – lengthening the contribution period to get the minimum pension – cuts in benefits for the disabled … Continue reading »

Portugal’s anti-austerity protest this Saturday promises to be another big one after the organisers that brought as many as a million into the streets on September 15 swung behind the demonstrations and rallies planned by the CGTP trade union central. The signatories of the manifesto ‘Fuck the troika! We want our lives!’  (see below) are … Continue reading »

A collective of economists have weighed in against the EU Fiscal Compact Treaty, or golden budget rule, which French Socialist President Francois Hollande is laying before parliament next month in order to translate into the country’s laws. The collective ‘Economistes Atterrés’ warns that the the Treaty represents a twin ‘offensive’ by ‘neo-liberals’ against Keynesian economic … Continue reading »

The debate on Europe’s Single Currency is based around a number of myths. Here’s four of them busted   The euro was supposed to be a catalyst for growth, principally on the basis of the theory that by abolishing national currencies there would be lower transaction costs across this vast market. But that’s not happened, … Continue reading »

French feminists have joined a growing campaign against a new EU treaty arguing that women would be in the frontline of a scary new world of ‘permanent austerity’ . The Fiscal Compact, set to be tabled for a vote in the National Assembly in October,  would threaten women’s rights and ‘exacerbate gender inequalities’ as cuts … Continue reading »

By Juan Torres López They are still applying cuts in Portugal (and Spain) although they do not work and produce (as critical economists have warned) the opposite effect to that predicted by the neoliberal authorities. They have imposed brutal increases in VAT, affirming that this rise will boost government revenue in 2012 by 12%. Critics … Continue reading »

Italy has paid heavily for embracing the laissez faire approach for its economy. Amid a dramatic collapse of manufacturing industry, it needs to drop the Anglo-Saxon model and draw some lessons from its own industrial past. Mine occupations, blockades of roads, air and sea ports, and attempted suicides, this summer saw the most dramatic protests yet in a … Continue reading »

By Vincent Navarro In the elections to the Catalan Parliament in 2006 in one of the most conservative newspapers in Catalonia, La Vanguardia, a columnist ideologically close to the banks and large employers, interviewed the Socialist candidate, José Montilla, and with great arrogance wondered how a person like him (Mr. Montilla, from a working class … Continue reading »

IN THE RADICAL PRESS /  MEMOIRE DES LUTTES By Jacques Sapir Measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) on 6 September favourably influenced markets. But this enthusiasm will be short lived. Far from alleviating the euro zone in the long term, they may, at best, bring it a very temporary respite. The crisis of … Continue reading »

While the Sardinian miners’ protest momentarily grabs the headlines, workers in the nearby aluminium smelter continue their struggle for jobs too. It is a struggle against a foreign corporate giant that is addicted to public hand outs and now they’ve dried up its on its way. Owner Alcoa, a US multinational with 25 billion dollars … Continue reading »

French radical left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon has called for a mutiny by Socialist Party ministers disenchanted with the policies of President Francois Hollande. Melenchon, a former Socialist minister who left the party and stood against Hollande as a candidate of the radical  Left Front in the presidential elections this year, said ministers who opposed Hollande’s … Continue reading »

As the financial crisis accelerates in Spain, resistance to austerity is growing Spain is living through the sharpest period of unrest in a generation. Mass protest is now a daily fact of life. Millions having filled the streets and plazas. Job centres and mines have been occupied, and roads blocked. Thousands have marched on the … Continue reading »

A survey of Italy’s economy tells a grim story. The country is now in its fourth recession since 2001. Manufacturing is in free fall. Fiat, the country’s  largest industrial company, closed one car plant last year. And CEO Sergio Marchionne is now threatening to shut others. Youth unemployment is at record highs of 36%. Yet … Continue reading »