Finance and Economy

An interview with the economist Yann Moulier-Boutang and Philippe Lamberts, Co-President of the Greens in the European Parliament.

The prospect of the use of bank notes and coins becoming severely restricted, or even eliminated altogether, is one we should scrutinise closely. Making all transactions electronic could have a profound impact on the lives of many people, while giving banks even greater control over the flow of currency.

In order to evade another economic earthquake similar to or even bigger than the Greek crisis and to reinstate the trust in the Euro, the European Central Bank (ECB) took extraordinary measures to boost growth, raise inflation and indirectly lower the indebtedness of the Eurozone Member States: they started the Quantitative Easing (QE) program.

For decades, a wave of privatisation has been rolling across Europe, making many investors, banks and consultancies rich but making few citizens happy. The great neoliberal promise of privatised utility companies providing water, power and transport more cheaply to their customers has regularly been shown to be deception and even, in many cases, a lie.

Even if tax scandals have been in the European media for years now, the Panama Papers revelations take the problem to a whole new level.

As the Panama Papers revelations lay bare in unprecedented detail how the rich and powerful are avoiding taxes, it is tempting to think of the bankers, financial lawyers, accountants and consultants who assist them in doing so as evil psychopaths.

“How is all of this going to be paid for?” This difficult question has struck campaigns for the advancement of welfare since the 1970s, ever more frequently and intensely since the financial crisis of 2008 and resulting austerity measures that were put in place in our European liberal societies.

The ability of EU governments to follow a coordinated and unified approach to tackle the multiple crises which are hitting Europe is at the lowest level in the last 20 years

MEP Sven Giegold looks back at 2015 and some of the key Green political fights on the European scene. He sheds light on what he thinks will be the 2016 key battlefields for the Greens and for Europe to survive nationalisms and populisms.

An interview with Gerhard Schick.