European Union

Yearbook

    Economic Governance of the European Union: Activate the Emergency Brakes?
  • Walter Benjamin polemicised against the naïve idea of revolutions as the locomotives of world history. In his thesis on the concept of history1 Benjamin suggested that if this locomotive, constructed by previous society, were allowed to circulate, most likely it would be heading inexorably into the...
    Euclid Tsakalotos – interviewed by Haris Golemis
  • Haris Golemis: At the time of this interview (12 December 2016), the Greek government is close to completing its second review of the third painful Memorandum of Understanding, which it was forced to agree to on July 2015. I understand that the government’s but also your view is that this evaluation...
    Twofold Disenchantment
  • Donald Trump’s election as the 45th President of the United States alarmed policy makers as well as the media and intellectuals all over Europe. Not only because the umbrellas have always been opened up here when rain clouds darken the skies over Washington but because the scenario very much...
    Europe – Quo vadis? The Left and European Integration
  • After the Brexit vote, there is a sense of cluelessness, or at least irritation, in Germany, that is, in the newspapers, in political journals, in the parties represented in the Bundestag, and certainly also in the federal government. Pre-referendum polls appeared to indicate that it was alarmingly...
    The UK and the EU Referendum
  • Sometime before the end of 2017 – and most probably in 2016 – the British people will face a referendum on the country’s membership of the European Union. The referendum was a pledge included in the Conservative Party’s manifesto, prior to the May 2015 general election, most likely to head off...
    For Fundamental Reform of the European Economic and Monetary Union
  • How should the European Monetary Union be reformed? The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, ‘in close cooperation’ with the presidents of the European Council, the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Parliament, has published a report entitled...
    The European Elections: An Analysis
  • Since the European election of 2014, there has been a split across Europe’s political landscape. While in the EU’s southern countries – especially in Greece, Spain and Portugal – the growing protest against the predominant line of European policy has been articulated largely in a leftist context, a...
    The European Union and Its Neighbours
  • Literally on a daily basis, the nature of the European Union’s relations with its neighbours is called into question by the never-ending refugee drama on the EU’s southern borders, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the domestic struggles in Turkey and North Africa. The EU’s self-image...
    Europe: A Lock and a Key
  • The European treaties jointly developed and voted by the right and social democracy have created a twenty-eight-key lock, which requires all keys to be turned simultaneously if any change in the fundamental direction of the Union’s policies is to take place. At the very least, since the less...
    The ‘Austeritarian’ Integration Dividing Europe
  • Unwelcome developments at the EU level and economic imbalances within the EU and the euro area are often at the centre of critical analyses of the European crisis. There are popular and also justified fears that these problems might cause the collapse of the currency union. However, these...
    The ‘National Question’ and European Integration
  • Europe is experiencing radical change. The civil war in Ukraine shows just how quickly events can take a dramatic and negative turn. That issues of domestic and foreign policy are to blame for this outburst of violence is just as true as the fact that this conflict is one between national...
    Renewal of the European Social Model
  • Europe is shifting into greater public view. On the one hand, party political actors are announcing that social Europe is our democratic answer to globalisation. On the other hand, the process of the constitutional treaty has been blocked. In referenda and parliamentary votes, the majority of the...
    Externalities: How Social and Ecological is the EU?
  • Globalisation is itself nothing new in human history. However, in the last 20 years, due to the collapse of actually-existing socialism and the rapid pace of development of information technologies under the influence of the 500 biggest transcontinental private corporations who today control 52.8 %...
    The European Union – Superpower or Power for Peace
  • It would be interesting, to say the least, to know if the political, economic, social and cultural system of what is called the European Union was what the first advocates of the Pan-European concept envisaged. The question seems all the more actual and appropriate when one considers that a United...
    Another Constitutional Prospect for Political Europe
  • The failure of the project of the European political and technocratic elites to constitutionalise of the European Union (EU) obliges us to reconsider the foundations and the process of the political unification of the European states and the formation of a democratic and social Europe. The...
    The Future and the Constitution
  • The Left was always internationalist. We wish to end the threat of war and the subordination of poor and weak states to the rich and powerful ones. We accept neither social and humanitarian inequality, nor the numerous unsolved international problems in the area of the environment, labour, transport...
    Transformed Treaty – But No Transformation of Europe!
  • Let us recall first of all the principal stages envisaged for the process that is supposed to lead to the future European Treaty: On July 23, 2007, the ministers of foreign relations of the “27” met in Brussels to launch the intergovernmental conference (IGC). The new Portuguese presidency of the...
    The “Hard Core” of European Integration
  • Dimitris Sotiropoulos notes quite rightly that the Euro is not just a currency, but a mechanism: “It has set up a particular form of symbiosis among different capitalist economies” (Sotiropoulos 2012, 66). But what is the material nature of this “symbiosis among different capitalist economies”?
    The Stability Treaty: An Error or a Crime?
  • As this autumn begins, the governments of member countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU) are struggling to ratify as quickly as possible the EMU’s Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (the so-called Budgetary Pact).
    The EU – The Flight From Democracy
  • 1. Facts and documents As in every crisis, capitalism’s ruling elites, in order, among other things, to manage the current economic-financial crisis, are redesigning the institutions, which is what is happening in the EU with the Euro Plus Pact, the Six Pack and now with the Treaty on Stability,...
    The European Union and the Dilemmas of the Radical Left
  • “... the task  arises is not merely to criticize the policy of the ruling classes [...] from the standpoint of the existing society itself, but also to contrast existing society as its every move with the socialist ideal of society [...]” - Rosa Luxemburg, Social Democracy and Parliamentarism (1904)...
    Why Germany and the Euro-Countries Need Another Europe
  • The Euro-zone is undergoing a crucial test. A number of member states are unable to get out of the debt trap on their own. The major reason for the record deficits has to do with the superiority of the German economy, which right from the start has been the major exporter both of goods and of...
    Modern Times: The New Attack on Working Time in Europe
  • “Time is the delimiter of human development. A person who has no free time at his disposal, whose whole lifetime – aside from the mere physical interruptions of sleep, meals and so on – is taken up by his work for the capitalists, is less than a beast of burden. He is a mere machine for the...
    Having your Cake and Eating It
  • The EU’s Open Method of Coordination (OMC) seems to exist in a world of its own, outside of the real social welfare debate. Proven ineffectiveness in its core area – combating poverty – is combined with an apparently naïve faith in the power of consensus and the need to set a good example. 
    The Welfare State, The European Union And The Future
  • People are not equal, but all people need to be accorded equal value. And it is just this equal value that is permanently in danger, not only for traditional reasons like natural disasters, wars and slavery, but also as a result of a colonial history, geographic differences and, last but not least, today’s free market.

Focus

    The Reactionary Rebellion
  • The experiences in Hungary, Poland, Austria and elsewhere make clear the antidemocratic character of these right-wing extremist parties, which, once in government, infiltrate the state apparatus in order to take precautions against their being deprived of power again. Is it possible to speak, in a scientific sense, of a fascist danger in Europe?
    Hunger for a leftist alternative in Bulgaria
  • The political frame, in which the European elections face Bulgaria is actually the struggle between the centre-right GERB, the party of the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the social democrats of our traditional socialist party BSP on the other side with its leader Kornelia Ninova. Biggest...
    The Greek Left before 2019 EU election
  • The forthcoming European election inaugurates for Greece a prolonged electoral period, in a highly polarised political climate. In May, on the same day with the EU election, municipal and regional elections will be taking place. And most importantly, a national election is normally expected for...
    A twofold struggle for the Cypriot left
  • In less than four months European citizens are going to the polls for the 9th time to elect their representatives for the European Parliament. For Cyprus it will be the 4th time. Going into these elections the scene is still fluid and this is mainly the result of two factors. First, the fact that...
    The Spanish scenario for the 2019 European Elections
  • These lines mean to be a brief but clear outline of what the electoral scenario is for the next European elections in Spain on May 26, 2019. First, it is worth clarifying that, unlike most UE countries, the elections in Spain will be unique, because electoral process will coincide on the same day as...
    Spanish Turmoil
  • After a period of increased electoral support to forces considered progressive, we are currently in a period of recomposition of the political landscape, marked by a new far-right party, Vox, which has entered the political scene forcefully since the last regional elections of Andalusia. We have...
    The French chessboard
  • The current balances of forces in France is worrying The left as a whole is credited around a third of the possible votes for the European elections. Such a low overall expected result demonstrates its historical weakness. The left is divided in different lists that all aim at running...
    "The Laugh of the Medusa: The Left in Europe"
  • High quality debates among people from different starting points aiming to find a common ground for a Europe of the people. A seminar that tried not to give definitive answers, but to pose at least the right questions.
    “State of Affairs in Europe”
  • transform! europe and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung staged a Workshop in Berlin under the title: “State of Affairs in Europe” in July 2016. Political scientists and actors were invited to debate the possibilities for common perspectives and action of the Left in Europe.
    Brexit – Touchstone for the Corbyn Leadership?
  • The decision of the Labour Party’s electorate to elect Jeremy Corbyn Labour leader for the second time within 12 months was a temporary victory for the left of the party and gives it a respite. Despite the continuous attacks against Corbyn after the shock outcome of the Brexit referendum, the new old new chairman has been able to strengthen his position in the party.
    A Europe built on solidarity is possible!
  • European Integration is currently undergoing its most difficult phase since the Treaties of Rome entered into force. The European Union (EU) has shown itself incapable of dealing with the structural flaws inherent to the Maastricht Economic and Monetary Union.
    The Future of European Integration
  • A number of Leftist conferences recently convened in Paris, Berlin and Madrid addressed the issue of an alternative plan for Europe. We as transform! were present in all the events as we believe that an open and comeradely debate without any taboos is necessary.
    The Brussels diktat: and what followed
  • Alexis Tsipras won the battle on a question of principle – the need for a new Europe – even if he lost the war that ensued. What are the implications for the Greek left and for Europe?
    We need a Plan B: for another Europe, for all of Europe!
  • After five months of negotiations conducted in an authoritarian and arrogant manner, 18 heads of state and government of the Euro-group under the leadership of Germany’s finance minister, have forced an agreement on Greece’s democratically elected government that contradicts SYRIZA’s electoral programme and negates the results of the July 5 referendum.
    Greece again under the thumb of Merkel, Schäuble & Co.
  • Who has such “partners” doesn’t need enemies no more. Greece’s conservative and social-democratic “partners” in the EU and in the eurozone on July 12 have during 17 hours shot with smoking guns on the Greek government and have not missed their target. Read here the whole article in German...
    Understanding the Defeat Means Preparing a Victory
  • The Greek Dilemma and Us. Nine provisional considerations after both the popular Oxi and Syriza’s Yes to the Memorandum. This is being written after the vote in the Greek parliament and before the final decision of the Eurogroup. At the moment, everything is open, and we are certain of only a couple of things. Almost everything can change, but some things will remain true.
    Reading The Greek Deal Correctly
  • On 20 February, as news of the Brussels deal came through, Germany claimed victory and it is no surprise that most of the working press bought the claim. They have high authorities to quote and to rely on. Thus from London The Independent reported: “several analysts agreed that the results of the talks amounted to a humiliating defeat for Greece.”
    EP Elections From a Left Perspective
  • With its EP14 project, transform! europe covers in cooperation with Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the French journal Regards the European Parliament elections from a left perspective. Find the election results of all EU countries, election analysis, comments and graphs on the respective country...
    EL for Remodelling of European Financial Institutions
  • On 10 April 2014, the Party of the European Left (EL) and transform! europe jointly organized an International Conference in Brussels. The aim of the meeting was to explore the alternatives to solve the problem of the debt and stop the austerity policies.
    Coming Together to Refound the European Union?
  • Within the left wing of the Left, there is much debate about Europe and the euro. Should we exit from the euro? Should we secede from the European Union? Many claim that any action within the Union is doomed to failure.

Blog

    Brexit: the back story
  • On 23 June 2016, the electorate of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar voted to decide if the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union.  The referendum was a Conservative Party manifesto commitment in the general election of May 2015. The Prime Minister and leader of the...
    Brexit Crisis
  • Brexit is an enormous political crisis, and the UK is in parliamentary deadlock. At the moment, there is no majority either for leaving or staying. Repeated votes are taken on a range of options on a regular basis but only opposition to a No Deal Brexit has commanded a majority. A brief overview on the current developments follows.
    Brexit Chaos Averted - For Now
  • “I am satisfied with the Council’s compromise because a chaotic Brexit next week is now off the table. EU citizens in the UK and British in the EU can breathe a small sigh of relief. However, the problem remains: should the House of Commons reject the proposed Withdrawal Agreement again, then there...
    Brexit or Bremain?
  • In December, the conservative government ordered 3,500 troops to go on standby in case Britain crashes out of the European Union without a deal. Plans originally published by Theresa May as a scare tactic, to force her MPs to vote the deal through parliament, are now being activated for real.
    European Contradictions Five Months Before the EP Elections
  • Transform! Europe and all its member and observer organizations have committed themselves to create spaces for radical progressive dialogue and debates and assist the affiliated parties throughout Europe in their race towards the EP elections.
    The Migration World Pact: Wishes and Realities
  • Numerous political leaders from all over the world are gathered these days in Marrakech, under the auspices of the UN, to sign a new migration agreement: the Global Compact for Migration. Migration has become one of the political priorities at a global scale and the richest areas of the world are all adopting similar xenophobic measures.
    Counter Hegemony and the Rise of a New Historical Political Block
  • A critique of radical -and by now mainstream- anti-immigrant populism in Europe based solemnly on ideals of liberal-humanitarianism, without a systemic critique of capital is misleading in many respects. Such Analysts and commentators fail to understand properly or they just ignore, why...
    Make Europe Great Again! Juncker State of the Union Speech 2018
  • On the 12th September Juncker, the President of the European Commission (COM) and member of the Christian democratic party family, held his important “State of the Union” speech. Even if the speech might not be too fascinating itself, it is highly relevant as it provides the COM with strategic direction on what to concentrate its work on.
    The Variable Geometry of the Left
  • Despite moderate growth rates, the EU isn’t well. While the social disparities within and between the individual states continue to grow, it has opted for an increase of its military expenditures and tries to make up its obvious lack of internal cohesion with an ever more aggressive policy against migrants and refugees.
    From Love To Hate
  • An article by Viera Hudečková based on an intervention made at The International Conference “Another EU is necessary and possible” organised by the Party of the European Left on the 12th of May 2018, Sofia, Bulgaria.
    Naughty Kids from the East
  • The perception of the EU’s ‘Eastern wing’ by the so-called ‘old Europe’ seems to be going through a change. It has quickly become a target of Western criticism in the crisis’s aftermath.
    Self-Determination and the Future of Europe
  • The hundredth anniversary of Poland gaining independence raises many emotions. Over the past two years the right-wing discourse, including on historical and contemporary issues, as well as the future of Poland in a Europe in crisis, has dominated in Poland.
    A Plan B against the EU: Rebuilding Europe before it collapses
  • As illustrated by the last economic crisis and by the way its effects have been handled in Greece, the European Union acts as a crutch to protect the market’s flawed logics against democracy. As a new banking crisis of unprecedented magnitude now looms, something must be done urgently.
    Greece’s expected exit from the 3rd adjustment programme: Whose victory?
  • Two months ago, on 25 July, the Greek government borrowed 3 billion Euros in the bond market at the very high rate of 4.625%. There was a big debate in the media, the Parliament and generally the Greek public space on whether this “exploratory” exit to the markets was a success of the Tsipras government.
    Juncker’s Straitjacket
  • A jauntier Juncker than usual held the stage in the Strasbourg auditorium with a highly optimistic speech on the state of the Union. He wanted to go way beyond the appraisals contained in the latest ECB bulletin.
    Appropriating Europe as a Common
  • The political crisis, which, 60 years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, haunts Europe, is heavy and resists any easy interpretation.- Speech at the event ‘A Europe for the People and by the People’ at the Rome University during the mobilisations on occasion of the Rome Treaty celebrations.
    Refoundation Means Discontinuity With the Past*
  • Nobody, of course, can deny the significance for Europe of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. However, my view is that this historic event with its unknown consequences for the future of European integration is only a symptom of the general turmoil prevailing in Europe since the outbreak of the systemic crisis in 2008.
    Hello, This is Capitalism
  • Talk at the Summer University of PCF. – The dilemma of Europe is real. On the one hand, it is clear that Europe cannot continue in the same track, something that Britain’s referendum has underscored; of course, the No targeted not only the EU but also Britain’s political class, thus demonstrating that the failure of the neoliberal model threatens not only the European Union but also its Member States.
    The UK after the EU Referendum
  • On 23rd June 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union – the so-called Brexit vote. On a turn out of 72.2%, 51.9% voted to Leave and 48.1% to Remain, thereby defeating the position of both Cameron’s Conservative government and the Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. This was a hard fought campaign, with its fair share of lies and dirty tricks.
    Britain at a Turning Point
  • As the British referendum campaign on EU membership enters its final days, the tension and anger is palpable. Traditional fault lines in politics are breaking down as the divisions over Remain or Leave cross and re-cross through parties and movements where typically in a general election period sympathies would be predictable and tolerated.
    The UK and the EU Referendum
  • The United Kingdom's EU referendum, which takes place on 23 June, provides a challenge to the Left. It should be answered by a “remain” vote, together with the rallying cry for #AnotherEurope, a better Europe.
    Europe under scrutiny
  • It is true that the European Union, or rather its predecessors, the European Coal and Steel Community, the EEC and the EC, have never been the projects for peace and human rights as which they were introduced to us. Those have to be disappointed now who allowed themselves to be deceived.
    Standing together rather than standing alone
  • The case of Greece, the austerity policies imposed by the Eurogroup and the fact that hardliners in the governments of Germany and other countries have been blackmailing the Greek government to implement neoliberal programmes have led to discussions about the stance of DIE LINKE (Germany’s main left-wing party) on the currency union and the European Union, as well as the idea of withdrawing from the eurozone.
    The Brussels diktat: and what followed
  • Alexis Tsipras won the battle on a question of principle – the need for a new Europe – even if he lost the war that ensued. What are the implications for the Greek left and for Europe?
    We need a Plan B: for another Europe, for all of Europe!
  • After five months of negotiations conducted in an authoritarian and arrogant manner, 18 heads of state and government of the Euro-group under the leadership of Germany’s finance minister, have forced an agreement on Greece’s democratically elected government that contradicts SYRIZA’s electoral programme and negates the results of the July 5 referendum.
    Understanding the Defeat Means Preparing a Victory
  • The Greek Dilemma and Us. Nine provisional considerations after both the popular Oxi and Syriza’s Yes to the Memorandum. This is being written after the vote in the Greek parliament and before the final decision of the Eurogroup. At the moment, everything is open, and we are certain of only a couple of things. Almost everything can change, but some things will remain true.
    Alexis Tsipras: Europe at a crossroads
  • On the eve of a week of final negotiations between Greece and its creditors, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, defends the actions of his government in an article published yesterday in “LeMonde.fr”.
    Reading The Greek Deal Correctly
  • On 20 February, as news of the Brussels deal came through, Germany claimed victory and it is no surprise that most of the working press bought the claim. They have high authorities to quote and to rely on. Thus from London The Independent reported: “several analysts agreed that the results of the talks amounted to a humiliating defeat for Greece.”
    EL for Remodelling of European Financial Institutions
  • On 10 April the Party of the European Left (EL) and transform! europe jointly organized an International Conference in Brussels. The aim of the meeting was to explore the alternatives to solve the problem of the debt and stop the austerity policies.
    The European Elections – How Do We Mobilise?
  • Every campaign constitutes a learning process, a process of individual and collective appropriation and of a gain in consciousness. For us it involves promoting the appropriation by citizens of European-level issues so that they can take a position corresponding to their interests. In order to be effective in 2014 we have to fully deploy new arguments.
    The Europe we want
  • An article* by the candidate for the European Commission Presidency, President of SYRIZA and leader of the Greek opposition.
    2012 Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to the EU: The “Oversights” of the Nobel Committee
  • Who could ignore the fact that today war between France and Germany is something unthinkable? The members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee impute this as an asset item to the EU and add in this context one of the main motivations of Europe’s populations in favour of the European construction: The preservation of peace among the member states and the commitment for global peace.
    While the Stock Markets Are Flying into Orbit, the Crisis Goes on
  • After the European Central Bank (ECB) had decided a new programme to buy bonds of states hit by the crisis and subject to a programme of austerity, the stock markets burst into euphoric fireworks. Does that signify that with the new stage of fiscal politics the Gordian knot of the persistent crisis...

Publication

    Different Scenarios for the Future of the Monetary Union
  • At the 2018 Summer University of transform! europe and the European Left Party in Vienna, the discussion regarding the best monetary system for the EU represents one of the most hotly discussed debates in left circles - hardly surprising, given the relevance of this issue.
    Trade and Investment
  • Since trade and investment policies are of immense importance for our lives and political work transform! europe offers you this brochure on trade policy.
    The Militarisation of the European Union
  • Since the Brexit decision, the only political project that the neoliberal elites in the EU and its member states are pursuing is the multidimensional militarisation of the EU. In this situation, transform! europe has gathered a collective of authors to stimulate discussion among European left parties and movements about this daring development.
    Re-appropriating Europe as a Common
  • Despite the return to modest economic growth in the EU and the Euro group the scars of the economic crisis persist. The European Union still operates in a crisis mode. Inside the Left a debate on how to cope with the crisis of European integration has begun.
    Thinking Europe as a Commons
  • As the German playwright Bertolt Brecht once noted, ‘Thought is something that follows from difficulties and precedes action’. The European Union is in difficulties. So too is the Left.
    Inclusive European Security? Russia and the EU in the Post-Western World
  • There has been a lot of talk of a new Cold War between the West and Russia, even though the metaphor itself is not appropriate in today’s globalised context. It is not a very fitting analytical description. Firstly, there is no clear ideological and systemic struggle between Russia and the West.

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