Countering the neoliberal privatisation of services

Will the COVID-19 pandemic drive further privatisation of the services sector and a new wave of austerity, or can we expect a departure from neoliberal orthodoxy, towards re-municipalisation and increased public investments? These were just some of the questions posed in an online debate with Dr Dieter Plehwe and Dr Mirjam Katzin on 11 November.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the injustice and inefficiency of the privatising, outsourcing and commodifying of vital public services. It has also exposed the inadequacy of the current system in dealing with the mass job losses from national lockdowns, magnifying levels of inequality already worsened by several decades of austerity. However, there has also been growth in awareness of the importance of such services in times of crisis, underlining the need for strong, public, services.

Read the full article at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Brussels Office. 

Climate Neutrality and Democratic Ownership after COVID

On 21 October, the Copenhagen-based Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO), along with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office, hosted a forum on the challenges of a socially just transition to clean energy, with former Copenhagen City councillor Ulrik Kohl. Kohl, a researcher on community energy in the Nordic countries and Southeast Europe with Malmö University and Roskilde University, spoke about the role of the left and communities in organising grassroots, working class alternatives to the capitalist Green Deal.

The idea of a ‘Green Deal’, or ‘Green New Deal’, has increasingly been seen as a panacea for the unfolding climate crisis. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, it has also been presented as a solution to the global health and economic crises unfolding in the wake of the pandemic. In Europe, the call for an ‘EU Green Deal’ emerged in 2019, centring around a target of European Union carbon neutrality by 2050. This year EU leaders made this a binding target, setting a further preliminary greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels).

Such a rapid transition to green energy and climate neutrality is an urgent necessity, but while welcome, the promised reductions have also been criticised as inadequate. Worse yet, they are unlikely to be met. The reliance on market mechanisms and emissions trading has proved worse than useless, cuts foreshadowed in 2015’s Paris Agreement have simply not eventuated, and without a major change in approach, the latest pledges by world governments at the COP26 summit in Glasgow are likely to go the same way.

Read the full article at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Brussels Office.

Epidemic Economy: A Left Perspective

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a global economic recession whose consequences will continue to be felt for years to come, but what comes next? Will we see greater monopolisation and concentration of market power? What, if anything, have we learned since the last financial crisis in 2009? Can the left take advantage of the crisis to win popular support for a new course, for a more social and sustainable alternative?

On 10 June, the Copenhagen-based Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO) partnered with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office to host a debate with economist Dr Karen Helveg Petersen, author of Rent Capitalism: Economic Theory and Global Reality (2017), to look at the challenges and opportunities of the coronavirus crisis from a left-wing perspective. 

Read the full article at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Brussels Office.

Nordic Socialism During and After the COVID-19 Crisis

On 27 May, the Copenhagen-based Democracy in Europe Organisation (DEO), together with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office, hosted a debate with Pelle Dragsted, former MP for Danish left-wing party Enhedslisten and author of the new book Nordisk socialisme: På vej mod en demokratisk økonomi (‘Nordic Socialism: Towards an economic democracy’).

The past year-and-a-half has been extraordinary. The global coronavirus pandemic has caused millions of deaths and triggered an economic crisis on a scale not seen in generations. 

This crisis has exposed shortcomings in the neoliberal economic model, particularly in areas such as health and social services, as well as in overall economic democracy—weaknesses that could also serve as an opportunity for a more just, socially-oriented recovery. 

The challenge, however, is how the left can use the current crisis to push for the democratisation and redistribution of ownership, and secure greater economic democracy.

Read the full article at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Brussels Office.

New book: "COVID-19 and then what?"

The new book "Covid-19 eta ondoren zer?" (“Covid-19 and then what?”) - containing reflections on the challenges we will face post-COVID, both at the level of the Basque Country and an international level - is now available in bookstores from Elkar Press (in the Basque language). 

It features a short chapter from myself on the EU's failure to adequately respond to the pandemic and its consequences, a failure which has served to deepen the divisions already deep-running through the bloc, along with many other thoughtful and informative contributions. 

While the book is in Euskadi (Basque), for those few of you not able to read the language, these contributions, and many more to come, are available in translation on the Telesforo Monzon eLab website.

Eskerrik asko to TM eLab for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion. The debate on the global response to the COVID-19 crisis - and what this means for those of us trying to build a more democratic, socially and environmentally just society - will continue for some time, and it will need to be both broad in terms of input and far ranging and audacious in scope. I am honoured to have contributed to one of several useful and thoughtful starting points on this road.

COVID-19: La UE ha fallado en una prueba de solidaridad. El precio será más y peor austeridad.

La Unión Europea (UE) ha sido puesta a prueba en su respuesta a la pandemia de COVID-19, y se ha comprobado que es muy deficiente.

La falta de visión resultante, de solidaridad en tiempos de crisis, plantea cuestiones fundamentales sobre la viabilidad a largo plazo del bloque europeo.

A medida que se profundiza la crisis económica causada por el COVID-19, hemos entrado en la peor crisis desde la Gran Depresión. Las consecuencias económicas y políticas ya son masivas y seguirán creciendo. En el espacio de un mes, la Organización Internacional del Trabajo estima que las pérdidas de empleo en todo el mundo aumentaron de 25 millones a 305 millones, con una pérdida de horas de trabajo equivalente a 124 millones de empleos a tiempo completo sólo en el primer trimestre de 2020. Por el contrario, el crack de 2008-2009 provocó la pérdida de aproximadamente 22 millones de puestos de trabajo en todo el mundo.

La economía mundial ya se dirigía hacia una recesión cuando apareció el nuevo corona-virus, pero ahora está experimentando una crisis única, que se adentra en el sector productivo y desafía las ortodoxias establecidas. Los cierres económicos y sociales provocados por el pánico para contener la pandemia han paralizado gran parte de la producción, mientras que el consumo también se ha reducido masivamente. Con millones de personas que trabajan ahora desde casa y otros millones de trabajadores de primera línea casi sacrificados al mercado, la lógica de la producción capitalista y la organización social ya no parece tan «lógica», y la UE está sentada en el borde de un precipicio.

[Leer el artículo completo aquí: TELESFORO MONZON eLab / Euskal Herrigintza Laborategia]

COVID-19: EBk huts egin du elkartasun proba batean. Ordaina austeritate zorrotzagoa eta okerragoa izango da.

Europar Batasuna (EB) proban jarri du COVID-19ak, harek pandemiari emandako erantzunarekin, eta erantzuna oso eskasa dela egiaztatu ahal izan da.

Ondorio gisa ikusi den bisio faltak, hau da krisi-garaian elkartasun-ikuspegirik ez egoteak, Europako blokearen epe luzerako bideragarritasunari buruzko galderak jarri ditu mahai gainean.  

COVID-19ak eragindako krisi ekonomikoa areagotu ahala, Depresio Handiaz geroztiko krisirik okerrenean sartu gara. Ondorio ekonomiko eta politikoak masiboak dira eta hazten jarraituko dute. Lanaren Nazioarteko Erakundearen arabera, hilabete batean mundu osoko enplegu-galerak 25 milioitik 305 milioira igo ziren, eta 2020ko lehen hiruhilekoan lanaldi osoko 124 milioi enpleguren lanorduen galera izan zen. Aitzitik, 2008-2009ko “crack”aren ondorioz 22 milioi lanpostu galdu ziren mundu osoan.

Munduko ekonomia atzeraldi batera zihoan koronabirus berria agertu zenean, baina orain krisi berdingabea ari da jasaten, ekoizpen-sektorean sartzen dena eta ezarritako ortodoxiei erronka egiten diena. Pandemia geldiarazteko izuak eragindako itxiera ekonomiko eta sozialek ekoizpenaren zati handi bat geldiarazi dute, eta kontsumoa ere asko murriztu da. Etxetik lan egiten duten milioika pertsonarekin eta merkatuari ia sakrifikatutako lehen lerroko beste milioika langilerekin, ekoizpen kapitalistaren logikak eta antolaketa sozialak ez dirudi hain “logikoa”, eta EB amildegi baten ertzean eserita dago.

Europako lehen erantzunak nazionalak izan ziren neurri handi batean, mugak ixteari, blokeo sozialei eta, azkenik, industria-itxiera orokorrari buruzkoak. Mugen itxierak -EBko “zutabe” sinboliko bati egindako erasoak- Ursula von der Leyen Europako Batzordeko presidentearen gaitzespen irekia eragin zuen. Herrialde batzuek arindu egin zuten langileentzako eta industriarentzako berehalako asaldura, diruz lagundutako soldatekin eta erreskate korporatiboekin, baina pandemiak Italia jo zuenean, bere laguntza oihuari ez zion inork erantzun, Txinak eta Kubak izan ezik. Italiak EBren duen enbaxadoreak, haserre, Europako buruzagiak “historiara Lehen Mundu Gerran lo sartu ziren 1914ko liderrak bezala pasatzeko” arriskuan daudela ohartarazi zuen. “Europako elkartasuna” oparoaldietarako ideia bat zela zirudien.

 

[Irakurri artikulua: TELESFORO MONZON eLab / Euskal Herrigintza Laborategia].

COVID-19: The EU has failed a test of solidarity. The price will be more austerity - and worse.

The European Union (EU) has been tested over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic - and it has been found sorely lacking. The resulting lack of vision, of solidarity in times of crisis, raises fundamental questions about the long-term viability of the bloc.

As the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 deepens, we have now entered the worst downturn since the Great Depression. The economic and political consequences are already massive – and will continue to grow.

In the space of just one month, International Labour Organisation predicted worldwide job losses grew from from 25 million to 305 million, with working hours lost equivalent to 124 million full time jobs in the first quarter of 2020 alone. By contrast, the crash of 2008-2009 led to the loss of approximately 22 million jobs worldwide.

The global economy was already heading into a downturn when the latest novel coronavirus struck. But it is now experiencing a unique crisis, one reaching deep into the productive sector and challenging established orthodoxies.

Panicked economic and social lockdowns to contain the pandemic have ground much production to a halt, while consumption has also shrunk massively. With millions now working from home, and millions more frontline workers all but sacrificed to the market, the logic of capitalist production and social organisation doesn’t seem quite so “logical” any more. The EU sits perched on a cliff-edge.

[Read the full article in TELESFORO MONZON eLab / Euskal Herrigintza Laborategia here, in Brave New Europe here, and in The Left in Berlin here].

Coronabonds or bust? - Gridlock over EU response poses an existential threat

The European Union’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has exposed a dangerous lack of solidarity between member states, as longstanding divisions over the future of European integration frustrate the fight against the coronavirus and the downturn it has caused – the worst since the Great Depression. After weeks of bungled responses, old fault lines between “north” and “south” have re-emerged, a marathon Eurogroup meeting on April 7 failing once again reach agreement. The European Union (EU) sits perched uncomfortably on an economic and political precipice, and the consequences could be massive.

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a human catastrophe and economic crisis worldwide, with panicked lockdowns grinding economic gears to a near-halt. The global economy – already heading into a downturn when the coronavirus struck – is now experiencing a crisis that reaches deep into the productive sector of the economy, but the EU response has been patchwork and incoherent, a series of reactive and inadequate measures not equal to the scale of the problem.

The initial response came from national governments, most of whom instinctively closed their borders, locking down society and – eventually – industry. As the walls went up, desperate appeals from Italy for assistance fell on deaf ears, unheeded by all but China and Cuba, and Italy’s ambassador to the EU, warned that Europe’s leaders risk “going down in history like the leaders in 1914 who sleepwalked into World War I”. It was beginning to look like “European solidarity” was an idea for fairer weather.

The EU’s response

The European institutions shifted clumsily into catch-up mode, the European Central Bank (ECB) proposing a package of 120 billion euro to ensure liquidity in the financial and banking sector the same day that its President Christine Lagarde declared the central bank was “not here to close spreads” in sovereign debt markets. This brought a furious response from Italy, casting doubt on whether the ECB would provide member states the necessary support.

The ECB then announced its “bazooka” response – a €750 billion package of Quantitative Easing (QE) named the “Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme” (PEPP). To allow the rapid expansion of public debt and facilitate heavy government spending, the ECB can buy large amounts of government and corporate debt until the end of the year, with significantly more flexible rules than previously. It suspends the 33% purchasing limit on national bonds, includes Greek sovereign debt and the ECB will target short-term debt maturing in as little as 70 days. State aid rules have also been loosened.

Crucially, the “general escape clause” of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) was activated – pausing a mechanism responsible for imposing austerity on member states through inflexible deficit and debt limits and structural reforms. Unprecedented stuff – but still not enough, and concerns remain about what the short duration of the PEPP will mean for EU member states’ capacity to service the resulting debt during a recession.

The burgeoning crisis quickly spilled over into a high-stakes political showdown across the EU. When the Eurogroup – the eurozone’s finance ministers – met on March 24 to draft a longer term “pandemic crisis support” tool. The main proposal was fresh loans under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the EU’s 410 billion euro bailout fund that allows eurozone members to draw a credit line worth 2 percent of their economic output – with conditions. This option is strongly supported by fiscally more conservative countries, like Germany and the Netherlands.

[Read the full article in TrademarkBelfast and Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung - Brussels' Post Brexit Europe here].

Europe’s Coronavirus Battle

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed longstanding divisions in the European Union, with the issue of eurobonds dividing the north and south – and solidarity in short supply.

An extended March 26 meeting of the European Council failed to reach agreement on which economic tool the European Union (EU) should deploy to combat what is predicted to be a severe recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, instead kicking the can down the road for a further two weeks.

With the coronavirus pandemic triggering a human and economic crisis worldwide, and panicked lockdowns in member states grinding economic gears to a halt, the European economy sits on the verge of a depression and total shutdown. National governments across the EU took the lead in combating the virus, closing borders and businesses, and in some cases with significant spending programmes to protect workers, jobs and businesses from the resulting downturn. As appeals by Italy for urgent assistance went unheeded by all but China and Cuba, and it was beginning to look like “European solidarity” was an idea for fairer weather.

Playing catch-up, the European Commission muscled-in on border closures, while on March 12 the European Central Bank (ECB) announced an initial €120 billion package aimed at ongoing liquidity in the financial and banking sector. A further 37 billion was mobilised from existing EU funds, but it was soon obvious that the disaster posed a threat of several magnitudes greater than anticipated.

[Read the full article in Tribune Magazine here].