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
Moumoutzis, K. (2015) “Is SYRIZA just another Greek party that does not know what to do?“, Europe on the Strand Blog, 01 February. Less than a week after SYRIZA’s (Coalition of the Radical Left) electoral victory, uncertainty regarding the newly formed Greek government’s economic policy has increased. In a statement emailed to Bloomberg News, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said: ‘we need time to breathe and create our own …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
Karoulas, G. (2015) “Syriza’s victory underlines the transformation of Greek political culture during the crisis, LSE EUROPP, 27 January. On 25 January, Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, won the 2015 Greek parliamentary elections and formed a new coalition government with another anti-austerity party, the Independent Greeks. Gerasimos Karoulas writes on the changes within Greek political culture which have occurred in Greece during the country’s economic crisis and which were …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
Rodrik, D. (2015) “Greek Elections, Democracy, Political Trilemma, and all that“, Social Europe Journal, 08 January. Two-and-a-half years ago I wrote a short piece titled “The End of the World as We Know It” which began like this: “Consider the following scenario. After a victory by the left-wing Syriza party, Greece’s new government announces that it wants to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the …Read More
Otero Iglesias, Μ. (2015) “We should be wary of removing the ECB from the troika to facilitate the use of outright monetary transactions“, LSE EUROPP, 19 January. A key legal debate in the context of the Eurozone crisis is whether so called ‘Outright Monetary Transactions’(OMT), which would allow the European Central Bank (ECB) to buy unlimited numbers of government bonds in secondary markets, are compatible with European law. The …Read More
De Grauwe, P. (2015) “The Greek Election 2015 – Revolt Of The Debtors“, Social Europe Journal, 05 January. The Greek debt crisis that erupted in 2010 is back and again threatens the stability of the Eurozone. That crisis was the result of two factors. First, an unbridled spending drift of both the private and the public sectors in Greece during the boom years of 2000-2010, which led to unsustainable …Read More
Mendelsohn, J. (2015) “Uncertain Silver Linings, The European Magazine, Why Greece Should Not Leave the Euro Column, 07 January. Unlike other European politicians, Alexis Tspiras may not be making empty promises. He may actually present a chance for real change. Radical change. In light of the Greek elections and a possible Syrizian win, Europe, and Europe’s North in particular, has a lot to fear. Let’s not kid ourselves, Tspiras …Read More
