Privatisation

Green parties face major challenges ahead. How can we finance welfare in the future? How do we strengthen the third sector and the public sector in many countries? How do we find ways to regulate the private welfare market? How much of the wealth can be managed by non-profit organisations or volunteer work (the church or the family?) These are among the questions that are discussed in a new report by GEF and its partners.

The national elections in Sweden on September 14th, 2014, were a victory for the parties at the fringes, with the Feminist Initiative and the far-right Sweden Democrats both witnessing a surge in support, while the parties in government lost out. For the Greens it was a mixed outcome – disappointing results overall, yet also bringing a chance to enter the government for the first time.

It is no secret that the lobbying might of financial institutions has shaped regulatory rules at national, European and global level. But did the disaster of the 2007 financial crisis change this? The honest answer is that the old institutions are still up to their old tricks, and a change in how we make policy is needed if we are to avoid a repeat of the crisis.

The idea that the peripheral countries were the authors of their own destruction continues to exist at European level. However a closer examination of the facts shows this is not the case, and an urgent reprioritisation of EU policies is needed.

The ongoing crisis, caused by excessive global debt, saw only financial institutions being protected. For life to come before debt we need to build an alternative to this out-of-control financial system.