The two movements present themselves as solutions to an “old political scene” and ride on the back of a desire for renewal and a less hierarchical form of politics, but they cannot escape the traditional political parties they reject. Are “movements” the future or a symptom of a sick political system, which will draw from the … Continue reading
By Christophe Ventura | Memoire des Luttes With Brexit, the end of a story begins to be written. That of the European Union (EU) as a symbolic embodiment of Europe. Brexit means the unthinkable for European zealots: the reversibility of European integration is possible; even unleashed. It sends them another painful message: regional integration through … Continue reading
It’s Christmas time for Greek pensioners. But what amounts to a rather modest gift from their government seems to have led to a major international rift threatening calamitous consequences for the austerity capital of Europe. In recent days a row has broken out with between PM Alexis Tsipras and the IMF-led coalition of -international lenders … Continue reading
What would happen to Italy if you decided to recruit eight hundred thousand to one million young and qualified people into public service, asks Maria Luisa Bianco An economy cannot function well without a State that functions well. Since the recovery of the country requires a boost in the efficiency of the public administration, the failure of … Continue reading
Josep Maria Antentas* on the disappointing results for the radical left Unidos Podemos – an alliance of Podemos and the Communist-led United Left – in general elections last weekend. Undoubtedly, we expected a better night. From sorpasso to sorpresa (surprise), the elections of June 26 definitively marks the end of the first stage opened with … Continue reading
Alessandro Somma | Micromega A united Europe, which many had equated to a dream, has long turned into a nightmare. We are now united only in the material and cultural misery caused by austerity, unable to rebel because attracted by the sirens of an increasingly violent nationalism, which only divides us. In all this, for … Continue reading
In January this year the French Government of Francoise Holland quietly shelved its 75% tax on the rich. Now new figures show three thousand affluent French people each pocketed a 240,000 euros tax rebate in 2014, in further embarrassing evidence that the Socialist administration has backtracked on promises to soak the 1%. This tax relief is … Continue reading
How much influence does the Greek question have on Podemos and the hopes for change of the Spanish Left? The chemistry between Iglesias and Tsipras has been a constant in recent months, but will this close relationship now weaken the Iberian upstart party in the next two important elections this autumn? While it is down … Continue reading
By Luciano Gallino When I open the windows in the morning these days, my gaze inevitably falls on Mont Pélerin, beyond the lake. It is a hill a few kilometres from Switzerland’s Montreux, known since the twenties for good hotels and a good climate. It is also the birthplace of the Mont Pélerin Society in … Continue reading
Italy’s Five Star Movement, which has campaigned for a referendum on the Euro, is in Athens today to support the Syriza government. Interview with Italian MP Alessandro Di Battista of the Five Star movement, who is participating in the delegation led by party leader Beppe Grillo. By Giacomo Russo Spena Top Quotes: Today’s referendum: “It is … Continue reading
By Jacques Sapir The agreement reached Friday, February 20th between Greece and the Eurogroup has led to conflicting commentary. It is necessary, in order to understand this agreement, and to analyze it, to put it into context, both in the short and in the long term. This agreement was intended to prevent an immediate crisis, … Continue reading
Theodore Andreadis Synghellakis is a Greek journalist born in Rome in 1973 of parents who fled the fierce military dictatorship of the colonels. Correspondent for over twenty years for Greek TV station Alpha, the press agency Athens and Macedonian News Agency and the newspaper Efimerìda ton Syntaktòn, meaning of Newspaper of Editors, he has also … Continue reading
Enrico Grazzini To overcome the crisis the new Greece’s Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis is considering a new national ‘fiscal’ currency to that proposed for Italy by myself and my colleagues Luciano Gallino, Biagio Bossone, Marco Cattaneo, Guido Ortona, Stefano Sylos Labini (Helicopter Money per l’Italia: uscire dalla crisi con l’emissione di nuova moneta statale-fiscale complementare … Continue reading
Why did Syriza choose the Independent Greeks as coalition partner? And how will the other Eurozone countries react to the new Government in Athens? Jacques Sapir explains Syriza has won and secured 149 seats in the Greek parliament. Alexis Tsipras, its charismatic leader, is the big winner of the elections this Sunday, January 25th. Many people … Continue reading
By Bernard Cassen Fingers in your ears and blindfold over your eyes: faced with the crisis, this is the policy of denial practised by the European Union (EU), especially with respect to the euro area. A policy is not judged by its intentions but by its results. And the results are catastrophic: the Eurozone is on … Continue reading
With a snap general election due January 25, a Greek economist close to SYRIZA dismantles some myths surrounding the Greek economy and believes victory for the left-wing opposition is increasingly likely After the announcement that on 25 January, Greece will return to the polls (due to the failed the third and decisive vote for the … Continue reading
Paolo Gerbaudo Amid a worsening economic crisis, a look at the protest movements that are struggling against austerity could be described as a two-speed.Europe An expression abused by economists and political scientists talking about the different levels of economic productivity and political integration of European countries, it also captures well the distance between countries where … Continue reading
The reports in the French and British press of the G20 held in Australia presented a Putin supposedly isolated by the international community. This is a textbook example of the manipulation of information and misinformation, argues Jacques Sapir. It is not the “international community” that has sought to isolate Vladimir Putin, but the United States … Continue reading
Friday’s mass protests in Italy mark the end of the honeymoon period for PM Renzi Thousands took to the streets of Milan and other cities on Friday in the first of union-led protests that will culminate in a general strike next month. At issue is the government’s labour counter-reforms that will make it easier for … Continue reading
By Eddie Sanchez The wave of arrests of mayors and institutional and business leaders this week indicate the extent of corruption in our country. This is not about isolated behaviour, corruption is linked to our economic and political system and its collapse reveals the stark reality of it. We have a structural problem, related above all … Continue reading
There is no alternative but to end the fractional reserve banking system and make credit an essential public service, argues Juan Torres Lopez Private banks enjoy an extraordinary privilege: whenever a loan is granted they create money. Not coins or notes, which is what ordinary people think is money, but bank money, ie, payment through their accounts. … Continue reading
The French Prime Minister has revived the idea that the French labour market is overly protective of permanent employees. However, international comparisons show that this is not the case, argues Duval Guillaume “The functioning of the labour market is not satisfactory because it is not creating enough jobs, it generates significant inequalities between highly protected employees … Continue reading
By Jacques Sapir Nicolas Sarkozy has just announced his “return to politics” as if he had actually quit. This is not surprising or unusual. We know the man to be a “political animal.” One suspects he is devoured by ambition, unable to accommodate the distance, sometimes, however, necessary between immediate action and salutary reflection. Yet … Continue reading
By Bernard Cassen The first concern of any institution is to perpetuate its existence and expand its areas of intervention. In the latter case, such an ambition usually encounters forces and structures that do not intend to be deprived of all or part of their territory and their prerogatives. When these forces and structures do … Continue reading
By Domenico Moro This year marks the centenary of the First World War, which began with the signing of the declaration of war by the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria on July 28, 1914. For the first time in history, and after a hundred years of relative peace, all major powers were involved in a … Continue reading
A Portuguese oligarch has been arrested and his historic Espírito Santo business empire is falling apart. Can the fall out be ‘contained’? Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Salgado is known in Portugal as “Dono disto tudo,” or “Owner of everything.’ The oligarch’s family has been calling the shots in the country for over a century. It’s the largest shareholder of the … Continue reading
Vicenç Navarro* The history of disasters (and there is no other way to define the consequences of their policies) created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is long. This institution, which in its current configuration aims to defend the interests of finance capital (ie the banks) at the expense of the interests of the countries supposedly … Continue reading
Today Greece is seeing further nationwide protests by shop employees and campaigners against Sunday shop opening imposed by the Government under the terms of the Troika’s hated memorandum of understanding. The idea is that it will boost competitiveness and spur consumer spending in the recession-hit economy. But according to the latest statistics of the National Confederation of … Continue reading
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MEMOIRE DES LUTTES What is the thinking and strategy behind Spain’s new radical political sensation? Podemos European election campaign chief Iñigo Errejón explains. In Spain, the surge of discontent caused by structural adjustment policies and hostage taking of popular sovereignty by the oligarchic powers gave rise to a series of … Continue reading
The choice of Juncker as the next president of the European Commission is in total continuity with the harmful policies of rigor imposed in recent years by the Troika. The Italian prime minister on the one hand seems to beat his fists against the diktats of Berlin, on the other hand make us believe – … Continue reading
They’ve done a deal in Europe with the far-right xenophobic neo-liberal Nigel Farage of UKIP. And once again they have stolen the left vote in a ‘red’ stronghold in Italy. Who are Beppe Grillo and his upstart Five Star Movement? Matteo Pucciarelli and Giacomo Russo Spena provide some insight. Five years ago the Friends of Beppe Grillo (as they were … Continue reading
France’s left is in a sorry state. It took a bashing in local elections in March and then European elections in May. The ruling socialists plunged to an all time low of less than 14%. The radical Front de Gauche, comprising the communists and other leftists like Jean Luc Melenchon, polled just 6.3%, down from … Continue reading
Vicenç Navarro The message that the Spanish establishment – the power structure for the financial, economic, political and media elite – has been promoting 24 hours a day, three hundred sixty five days a year and through thirty- six years of democracy, is that, as result of a model Transition, Spain has enjoyed a democracy … Continue reading
Antonio Antón* The three most significant results of the European elections in Spain are: the emergence of a broad indignant and transforming electorate; the failure of the socialist party system that has garnered the worst result in its history; the decline of electoral support for the Right. The three phenomena are linked. On the one … Continue reading
Millions of Europeans said ‘Non’ to the EU and the neo-liberal austerity policies of the Troika in the pan-Continental elections on May 22-25. And it wasn’t just the far right, but the radical left and new anti-austerity parties in the ‘periphery’ that delivered that unwelcome message. THE GOOD With the exception of Greece, much of the … Continue reading
Much as many were relieved to see the back of Silvio Berlusconi as Italy’s PM during the height of the Eurozone crisis in 2011, the revelations by Tim Geithner should have all democrats including those on the Left deeply worried. EU officials approached the former US Treasury Secretary in November of that year with a plan to overthrow the billionaire … Continue reading
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MEMOIRE DES LUTTES By Christophe Ventura The worsening economic, monetary, political and democratic crisis facing the European Union (EU) and its member countries since 2008 (year of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the adoption in Europe the Lisbon Treaty) led the forces of the left that seeks social transformation and … Continue reading
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MEMOIRE DES LUTTES The European Parliament is preparing to welcome the most powerful extreme right that the Old Continent has seen since the 1930s. Ignacio Ramonet discusses the factors behind this disturbing political development. One thing is certain: the European elections in late May will result in an overall rise of the far-right … Continue reading
Recently issued figures show that while ordinary citizens continue to be forced to tighten the belt those at the top of the income scale are doing very nicely. France In France, the company bosses had a fine 2013: Carrefour’s George Plassat got a whopping 40% rise to 3.7 million in his pay cheque. Airbus’ Thomas … Continue reading
France has been in a state of shock since it was revealed last week the company that built the high speed TGV train and steam turbines for EDF’s nuclear reactors was about to be taken over by the yankees. Things scarcely improved when a desperate Paris sought to bring in the Germans for an alternative … Continue reading
By Alfonso Gianni It may well be that this is a coincidence, but there are many who doubt it, including the leader writers of Italy’s financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. The fact is that many economic indicators suddenly seem to indicate, exactly one month before the European elections, brighter prospects. The simplest hypothesis, and … Continue reading
Champagne has been flowing again in copious quantities in London and New York as bankers enjoy a return to the good old days of runaway millionaire bonuses on the back of one-way bets. But that flow of lovely bubbly has been under threat by a strike by employees of Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Krug, Ruinart … Continue reading
By Vicente Clavero Probably PM Mariano Rajoy doesn’t give a damn, but he’s just got a right earful from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The UN agency, which represents governments, unions and employers, has issued a scathing report on collective bargaining in Spain. According to ILO, reforms since February 2012 and cuts in working conditions … Continue reading
The radical left could become the third force in the European parliament, after the conservatives and social democrats, according to recent polls. Syriza in Greece leads with 26.2 % support, followed by Portugal, Spain and France. With a month to go to the European Parliament elections, polls suggest the Parliamentary Group of the European United Left (GUE – … Continue reading
Last week, MEPs finally signed off on European banking union. This, we are told, is the big fix to the out of control banking system that caused the 2008 economic meltdown that has rocked Europe ever since. The narrative is, as Reuters puts it, ‘unlike in the United States, where regulators and the central bank acted promptly … Continue reading
The revolt in France’s socialist party continued this week as details of a fresh austerity plan were unveiled by new Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Valls has announced a 50 billion euro austerity plan to be funded largely by cuts to pensions, a freeze in public servants’ salaries and cuts to public services. The announcement was “received as a … Continue reading
In May 1981 in less than an hour Guy Abeille, then senior official of France’s Budget Directorate, invented the EU’s infamous deficit-to-GDP figure of 3 %. And the European austerity fest was born. Guy Abeille is known as “Monsieur 3%” . He’s the inventor of a concept signed up to and repeated ad nauseam by … Continue reading
By Catarina Oliveira Three years ago the Portuguese Government called in the Troika. “Save wages and pensions,” was the pretext but that did not happen. Today the dramatic social consequences of the entry of the Troika in Portugal are easy to analyse. A look at the figures shows the spiral of impoverishment in which the country is … Continue reading
By Marco Santopadre The parliamentary elections in Hungary Sunday confirmed a trend already evident in recent years – a right wing government that maintains its position of dominance and a growing neo-Nazi opposition. The election also saw an increase in voter turnout, by four percentage points, reaching 61% participation. The former Liberal party Fidesz, led … Continue reading
IN THE RADICAL PRESS / MEMOIRE DES LUTTES by Pierre Charasse* The Ukrainian crisis has highlighted the magnitude of the manipulation of Western opinion by the mass media, television channels like CNN, Foxnews, Euronews and many others, as well as print, fed by the north American and European news agencies. The degree to which the … Continue reading
Pietro Lunetto offers an analysis of Sunday’s elections and argues that despite the headlines, the Left vote held up overall. The result of the first round of the French administrative has sparked the reaction, often lazy, of the mainstream press, which prefers headlines to detailed analysis of the situation. From the results of the first round, … Continue reading