An alternative
economic policy for Europe
The
main themes of the conference were organised in five parallel workshops. Workshop 1
dealt with macroeconomic policies. Austerity policies are clearly not working
and the Stability and Growth Pact functions as an obstacle to growth. Could a
significant fiscal stimulus across the European economy be a way out of crisis,
perhaps partly funded through successfully combatting tax evasion by big
corporations?
Workshop
2, in turn, focused more closely on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as well
as the response by EU institutions to the crisis in Greece. Can we actually
still argue that a restructured EMU would provide a possibility for more
progressive policies within the EU? Is it time to discuss also the
possibilities of exiting EMU and would it not be important to engage with
discussions around a so-called Plan B?
Persistent
high levels of unemployment and the refugee crisis provided the background for
Workshop 3 on Labour markets, demographic change and migration. Here too,
austerity is considered to be a dead end. How can European governments pursue
widespread cuts and at the same time argue for solidarity with refugees? These discussions
related closely to increasing precarious work and higher poverty levels in
Europe, and especially the extremely high rate of unemployment among young
people, covered in Workshop 4.
Workshop
5, finally, dealt with the EU’s external relations and here especially its free
trade policy around the negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP). The expanded free trade regime embodied in TTIP and
including such elements as the investor-state-dispute-settlement mechanism and
attempts at cooperating to deregulate economic sectors is clearly a significant
danger to national sovereignty and democracy as well as consumer and workers’
rights. Nevertheless, what could an alternative trade regime look like?
The Economics of
the European Constitution: Locking in Austerity?
In
an important plenary session on the second day, Augustín José
Menéndez
from the Department of Public Law at the University of Léon in Spain outlined
the way in which the European Union is in a process of locking in austerity into
national constitutions through the incorporation of laws committing governments
to balanced budgets. By doing so, the EU institutions and current governments
are attacking the traditional social democratic Rechtsstaat, which did not
commit governments to specific policies, but provided the framework within
which a range of different policies could be pursued.
Magnus Ryner from the
Department of European and International Studies at King’s College London/UK
equally emphasised the change in EU structures. Analysing recent developments
from a political economy perspective he emphasised the shift towards
authoritarian neo-liberalism in which ‘new constitutionalism’, the shift of
power to institutions outside democratic accountability, has been radicalised.
The new EU asymmetrical regulation is disciplinary neo-liberal in substance and
‘new constitutionalist’ in form. Underpinned by transnational class formation
and an increasingly powerful transnational capital class, he concluded, it is
hardly possible to challenge the current order in Europe.
The weakness of capitalism and possibilities of resistance
And
yet, although these developments are indeed taking place, it remains important
not to exaggerate the power of capital and the stability of the current
neo-liberal order. Capitalism is a crisis ridden system and while capital may
appear to be back in control after the financial crisis of 2007/2008, we should
not forget that there are currently $1.73 trillion of private finance sloshing
around the system in a desperate search for profitable investment opportunities.
This is to a large extent the reason for why there is this pressure on opening
up public services for private investment. While the private sector offers few
opportunities for profitable investment, the privatisation of public sectors is
deemed to be a potential way out of the crisis of overaccumulation (see Alternatives to
privatising public services). Nobody can predict the exact time of the next
crisis, but it will come.
On
the first day of the conference, Laura Horn from the
Department of Society and Globalisation at Roskilde University outlined the
current weakness of the left across Europe, unable to challenge neo-liberal
restructuring successfully. The defeat of Syriza’s anti-austerity policy in
Greece has put question-marks on the left’s ability to mobilise broadly. And indeed, the European left is fragmented
and local groups are not well connected at the European level. Nevertheless,
popular uprisings against injustice and exploitation can neither be planned nor
predicted. They are always a possibility, as remote as this may currently
appear.
It
remains, therefore, important for forces of the progressive left such as the
EuroMemo Group to continue with their work on economic alternatives. In fact,
it is not only important, but absolutely essential, if we do not want to leave
the field for alternatives to the fascist, populist forces of the right. If the
left does not mobilise the exploited masses against the current order, the
extreme right will do it. The success of various right-wing parties in Europe
such as Golden Dawn in Greece or Folkeparti in Denmark are a clear warning!
Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK
Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk
Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net
5 October 2015
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