By Viktor Sukup
In the endless Greek crisis and the recipes supposedly designed to overcome it, Germany—whose Chancellor began by imposing the IMF’s participation—is the main hardliner pretending to “have the “Eurozone rules respected”.
By Deniz Torcu
As of July the 13th, following tense negotiations, Eurozone leaders have reached an agreement for the new Greek bailout. A few days ago, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proposed an austerity plan which was nearly identical to the very one that the Greek people vetoed in the July 5th referendum. The Greek proposal includes strict measures like a unified VAT rate of 23%, elimination of discounts on islands, incrementation and/or adjustment of corporate income and property tax rates, abolition of subsidies for farmers, introduction of penalties for early retirement, privatization of state-owned companies, etc.
By David Yarrow
No language is neutral. When we discuss economic life, we are constantly cutting up an immensely complex and messy reality into manageable concepts and stories in a way which necessarily foregrounds certain assumptions and relegates others to the background. In the process, some policy responses are normalised as common sense while alternatives are rendered unthinkable. How we talk about the economy frames how we understand and visualise it, and we must attend to the way in which language performs often implicit ideological work.
The fight about Greece’s bailout deal that is taking place within the Eurozone and the EU is not just about the sums of money that Greece may or may not get, and the reforms that it may or may not implement in return. There is a deeper fight about the nature of the European project and even the soul of Europe that cannot be ignored.
By Thomas Piketty, Jeffrey Sachs, Dani Rodrik, Heiner Flassbeck and Simon Wren-Lewis
The never-ending austerity that Europe is force-feeding the Greek people is simply not working. Now Greece has loudly said no more.
The author of this article is a Muslim woman in her mid 40s, of Algerian nationality but resident in France since her youth, who prefers her identity not to be disclosed.
L’Egypte et la Tunisie ont pour point commun de ne pas avoir adopté de régime islamiste au lendemain du printemps arabe. Issue prévisible ou non de leur révolution ; le premier semble avoir voulu retourner au conservatisme militaire, sans doute du fait de la tournure dramatique qu’y a prit le printemps arabe, révélant ainsi un manque de préparation citoyenne au changement.
By Ewald Wermuth, Giovanni Grevi, Dirk Messner, Kevin Watkins and Teresa Ribera
The challenges facing Europe today have global implications and require global solutions. From the Greek crisis to migration and climate change, the EU must seek answers beyond its borders.
By Deniz Torcu
The image that has started to go viral in social media amongst Greek users is simple, yet strong enough to explain the stand of the majority. It says a clear “NO”, however the rejection is composed of the sentence “YES TO THE EURO”. My recent trip to Athens was a clear depiction of how devastated the country really is. The once busy neighbourhoods filled with restaurants, cafés and shops are now being replaced by two yellow signs that mark the desperation of the people: “for rent” and “for sale”, appearing side by side.
The paradox inherent in the planned Greek referendum is that a “no” vote directed at the EU might be a “yes” for a better Europe. The same Europeans, whom the EU is now trying to force-feed a false “salvation”, might end up saving the true European Idea, even if it’s at the price of renouncing the current institutional attempts to implement it.
By Viktor Sukup
Recent regional elections gave important gains to the right-populist Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), which has now roughly the same voters’ potential as each of the two traditional parties…
