Crook, O. (2015) “The ECB Should Stay Out of Politics“, BloombergView, 10 February. Has the European Central Bank made itself the judge of which countries remain members of the euro area? That would be an amazing assertion of power — on the face of it, completely at odds with its usual insistence that it stands outside politics. Yet that is more or less what the ECB seemed to do …Read More
Weisbrot, M. (2015) “Greece: ECB Kicks Syriza in the Face; Syriza Turns the Other Cheek“, The Huffington Post, 05 February. On Wednesday the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it would no longer accept Greek government bonds and government-guaranteed debt as collateral. Although Greece would still be eligible for other, emergency lending from the Central Bank, the immediate effect of the announcement was to raise Greek borrowing costs and …Read More
Χατζησταύρου, Φ. (2015) “Je suis Dijsselbloem ou Varoufakis?“, Protagon Website, 04 February. Η πρώτη συνάντηση Βαρουφάκη-Ντάισελμπλουμ φέρνει στη δημόσια συζήτηση ένα θέμα που μέχρι τώρα ήταν αντικείμενο ανάλυσης κυρίως των ενασχολούντων με τη θεσμική λειτουργία της ΕΕ στα οικονομικά θέματα. Ευκαιρία, λοιπόν, να δούμε ποιο είναι το πρόβλημα, γιατί υπάρχει πρόβλημα, και ποιες οι συνέπειές του μέχρι σήμερα. Από το 2010 και μετά οι ευρωπαϊκές κυβερνήσεις ομόφωνα προχώρησαν στην …Read More
Krugman, P. (2015) “Who’s Unreasonable Now?“, The New York Times, 02 February. OK, so as I understand the latest from the new Greek government, Yanis Varoufakis is saying that he and his colleagues don’t care what happens to the headline value of the debt — if you want to claim that there has been no write-off, OK. What they want instead is substantive but not outrageous relief from the …Read More
Feldman, N. (2015) “Greece Turns Left, Europe Goes Right“, BloombergView, 30 January. Why has Greece chosen a far-left government at a time when discontented and frustrated voters elsewhere in Europe have turned to the far right? In northern Europe, the frustrated voters’ parties of choice are right wing and anti-immigrant. So how come frustrated Greeks made a sharp turn to the left, electing the near-communist Syriza party to lead …Read More
Rooduijn, M. (2015) “Populist arguments have become more pervasive in Western European countries“, LSE EUROPP, 29 January. To what extent has populism become a feature of public debates in European countries? Matthijs Rooduijn employs content analysis to assess the frequency of populist statements in newspaper articles in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. He concludes that populism is more widespread in these countries than previously assumed, with …Read More
Weisbrot, M. (2015) “How Greece Could Change the Future of Europe“, Vice News, Opinion & Analysis, 28 January. The Syriza party’s big win in Greece’s legislative election last weekend is a turning point in the long political fight over Europe’s botched recovery from the financial crisis and world recession of 2008-2009. The occasion presents a milestone for the eurozone, which has been plagued by mass unemployment and economic stagnation, …Read More
Crook, C. (2015) “Why Europe Will Cave to Greece“, Bloomberg View, 28 January. A prediction for you: Greece and the European Union will split the difference in their quarrel over debt relief. What’s uncertain is how their respective governments will justify the new deal, and how much damage they’ll inflict on each other before accepting the inevitable. EU governments, with Germany in the lead, are saying that debt writedowns …Read More
Bershidsky, L. (2015) “Syriza, Le Pen and the Power of Big Ideas“, BloombergView, 26 January. It may seem ironic that Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s extreme right Front National, rooted for the extreme left Syriza in yesterday’s Greek election and rejoiced at its landslide victory. Yet there’s nothing unusual about it: Syriza, Front National and other European anti-establishment parties are partners in a political revolution that appears to be about to …Read More
Gow, D. (2015) “Tsipras And Syriza’s Win Reboots European Social Democracy“, Social Europe Journal, 26 January. The “vicious circle of austerity is over,” said Alexis Tsipras, Syriza leader and Greece’s likely new premier, after his party won a stunning victory in yesterday’s general election. It would be replaced, he added, by “a politics of hope, solidarity and co-operation.” He and his senior colleagues say this is true for the …Read More
