16 January by Daniel Albarracín
Publish in:
http://www.cadtm.org/The-European-Union-against-Europe
The purpose of this presentation is to
contribute with some elements of the debate, focusing on the strategies
that the progressive political forces in Europe has been developing.
Debating with them we will try to build a useful proposal to open a path
to break with the straitjacket of the Euro System and the Europe of
Capital.
It is convenient to highlight some points of the new political context. Just to mention, concerning the socioeconomic situation:
Regarding the social and political situation is important to highlight:
- We are in a macroeconomic framework affected by
low profitability rates, relative stagnation, low investment rates,
trends to deflation, huge problem in the balance
sheet of an important part of the banking system, and a wage depression
combined with still high unemployment and instability labour rates. The
peripheral countries are more affected, as the design of the Eurozone
is capable to export the crisis from the core European countries to
them. The recent slight recovery, have not reached the level of
production of before of the crisis, and is weak and is going to be
short.
Regarding the social and political situation is important to highlight:
- The failure of Syriza Government experience and the submission of Greece to the Troika.
- The open process for the Brexit in United Kingdom.
- The emerging of new forces within the hard right in several countries, demanding more protectionism, a xenophobic agenda, and the protection of the privileges in the richer countries.
- The first steps done of the implementation of the Five Presidents’ Report, as a roadmap to recentralise powers into the EU. And the tension of a clear blockade at the European Council, mainly Germany and other Central and Nordic Member States, in order to oblige that any refoundation of the EU is conditioned under the imposing of structural reforms. In other words, austerity measures and a control and monitoring of the peripheral economic policies in the wage, fiscal and budgetary fields by the Central European Countries.
- The desperate monetary policies of the ECB, just to support the insolvent private bank system, and useless to boost the investment.
- After turning the private debt into public debt at national level, the new attempts to socialize the debt at EU level, but making to pay to the peripheral of peripheral countries, with a new European Monetary Fund. The EMF would be the whip to ensure the implementation of austerity measures in those dependent countries of the core countries.
- The possible new USA geostrategic agenda and the new role of Russia in the context of an energetic crisis.
- The new militaristic agenda. USA demands to the EU to increase its army capacities, as the USA wish to decrease their investments in the NATO, finishing its role as the Guardian of the world. It could entails that EU should create a new European army, but for the time being, after the exit of the UK, just France has an important army, which it could push to Germany to make concessions in the roadmap of the EU, probably reducing some demands and the blockade of the reforms posed by different sector of the European oligarchy.
