Economic Crisis

It is deeply concerning that the Croatian government wants to return to the fossil era. And not only because oil drilling in the Adriatic threatens tourism, one of the most lucrative branches of the Croatian economy, which regularly contributes around 15% or more to the annual GDP.

Even if SYRIZA is defeated at the end, forced to comply with Europe’s inflexible neoliberal doxa, it has already achieved a first small victory: political disagreement, that is at the very heart of democratic dialogue.

Given the current political climate, it behoves ecologists to thrust imagination, innovation and experimentation to the forefront of political action and thought. This requires a “benevolent distance” between the Green foundations and the Green parties.

The European Elections, held in tandem with local elections, proved to be a turning point for the Irish Greens. It was a real comeback at local level, particularly in Dublin, and came desperately close to electing an MEP. Green Foundation Ireland (GFI) has played a real part in this recovery.

Beginning in the fall of 2013, three manifestos published by German and French intellectuals revived the idea of establishing a “Political Community for the Euro” to give the single currency a true system of democratic governance.

As the different European Parties unveil their election manifestos, we can see real differences in the direction that each of them want to take Europe over the coming years. The voters will have a real choice in next month’s European Parliament election.

One of the primary conclusions of the past five years is that the days of “easy politics” are gone, we have moved to an era of “hard politics.”

In Portugal, emigration worsens the problems caused by austerity. A recent study documents its dramatic consequences on the demography of the country. As a result of the current trend, the Portuguese population, currently estimated at 10.4 million people, could decrease to 7 million by 2061.

Despite some positive signs, the European economy remains extraordinarily weak. To escape deflation and solve problems like unemployment, what is needed is a whole new approach to getting money into the economy.

The 2007 financial crisis evidenced the weaknesses of the Eurozone. Since then, European policymakers have tried to save the euro and the European financial market. As consequence of the economic and political instability of the last years the European Central Bank has de facto gained more power vis-à-vis the other European Institutions and political actors. Today the ECB is fundamental for determining Member States’ economic policies in all areas, not only monetary policy.