Tag Archives: European Crisis

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[embedded content] On Monday 19th May 2020, Chancellor Merkel and President Macron announced a joint proposal for a 500 billion euro common fund, to be financed by allowing the European Commission to borrow from the money markets. The fund will, according to the Merkel-Macron proposal, finance directly businesses across the EU – by means mainly of transfers. Is this a breakthrough? Here is my...

For Yanis Varoufakis, lockdown has not been a time of contemplation. “I have more work now than I ever did. As you know, everything has shifted to Zoom meetings, which means zero separation between the private and the public,” he explained when we spoke recently, during one such video call. The 59-year-old economist, former Greek finance minister, game theorist and “erratic Marxist” has divided his time since...

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DiEM25 was created in February 2016 because Europe was disintegrating as a result of a pseudo-technocratic takeover of the EU that was imposing austerity everywhere in response to the financial crisis caused by the EU pseudo-technocracy’s controllers. Today, now that a mindless virus has placed European capitalism in suspended animation, it is time to re-assess our analysis and to re-purpose our policies. Our...

Later today, Thursday 23rd April, the EU Council will meet to discuss the common European response to the Great New Recession caused by the pandemic. Their agenda should comprise one, and only one, item: How to ensure that the necessary increase in public deficits will not show up in the fiscally stressed member-states’ national budgets, so as not to boost already non-viable public debt levels. If the EU Council...

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  The Eurogroup approved a 500 billion package to fight the crisis. You recently wrote in the Guardian that The EU’s coronavirus relief deal is a gift to Europe’s enemies. Explain. To begin with, the 500 billion euros is almost entirely loans. It’s exactly what Europe doesn’t need, especially like the countries that were hit the hardest, like Italy or Spain or Greece, which have the least capacity to have the...

The debate about the economic consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic has already begun: what do you think is easier to happen? Will it be a momentary crisis or a crisis destined to change our economic system forever? Neither. The consequences will be harsh and will not disappear any time soon. But, it will not, on its own, change the way capitalism works – even though, it is true, commentators revisit important...

[embedded content] Discussing the toxic impact of the Eurogroup agreement of 9th April 2020 on Italy and Europe at large. Interviewed by Richard Quest on CNN’s Quest’s World