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donate Decision time for the EU
focal point When the global financial crisis broke at the end of 2008, Europe's leaders complacently maintained that the problem was an Anglo-Saxon one. Now, with trillions potentially having to be poured into national economies too big to fail – Greece, Ireland, Portugal, even Italy and Spain – the eurocrisis is threatening to overshadow the original banking collapse of 2008.
Brought on by the global economic recession, the eurocrisis has been exacerbated by serious faults built into the institutional structure of the monetary union. The non-existence of centralized political control over the European economy combined with lack of democratic legitimacy sets in motion processes that are undermining European solidarity.
In a new Eurozine focal point, published in cooperation with the Allianz Kulturstiftung, contributors discuss whether the EU is not only broke, but also broken – and if so, whether Europe's leaders are up to the task of fixing it.
It's the politics, stupid
In search of Europe
An interview with Jacques Delors
interview "We don't just need firefighters; we need architects too." Jacques Delors, three times President of the European Commission, speaks of "this Europe of values", its triumphs and failures, and his hope that a federal Europe of nation-states will, eventually, become a reality. [ more ]
Europe and the "new German question"
Renationalization Political elites are not delivering Europe to its citizens, says Jürgen Habermas in a panel discussion on the renationalization of Europe. Is Germany's perceived withdrawal from the common European project at the heart of the current crisis? [ more ]
The end of the European Dream
What future for Europe's constrained democracy?
Euro crisis In trying to escape the banality of everyday life, utopian projects are bound to fail in politics, writes Stefan Auer. As such, the Great Gatsby of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel and the EU have much in common: they always want more, despite being insanely rich; and still cannot pay their bills. [ more ]
The European Union and the Habsburg Monarchy
Euro crisis The threat that the EU faces today is as deadly as the one that confronted the Habsburg Monarchy a hundred years ago, writes British diplomat Robert Cooper, one of the intellectual architects of EU foreign policy. But getting it right does not need a miracle. [ more ]
The European dis-Union
Lessons from the Soviet collapse
euro crisis Too big to fail? Too crisis-hardened to go under? The collapse of the Soviet Union has something to teach Europe's politicians if another leap from the unthinkable to the inevitable is to be avoided in the case of the EU, argues Ivan Krastev.
[ more ]
More justice through more Europe
An interview with Ulrich Beck
Crisis While discrepancies between EU member states can be overlooked during win-win periods of growth, recession triggers xenophobic and anti-European reactions in both rich and poor countries. In interview, Ulrich Beck explains how inequality leaves the Union susceptible to decay. [ more ]
Cooperate or bust
The existential crisis of the European Union
cosmopolitization The critique that Europe lacks representative legitimacy may well be correct, argues Ulrich Beck, but not when based on the principle of "no nation, no democracy". Cosmopolitanization demands post-national approaches to democratic accountability in Europe. [ more ]
The failure of European intellectuals?
Narratives Intellectuals have been accused of failing to restore a European confidence undermined by crisis. Yet calls for legitimating European narratives reflect the logic of nineteenth-century nation building, argues intellectual historian Jan-Werner Müller. [French and German versions added] [ more ]
How to get into and out of an economic crisis
iceland From Scandinavian democracy to target of British anti-terror laws: the Icelandic saga is well known, but how did the country get itself into such a mess? Andri Snaer Magnason tells of privatizations, overreaching and astronomical pay checks. [ more ]
Where were you when Europe fell apart?
intellectuals Too many Europeans have too long avoided the question of Europe, says Swedish writer Per Wirtén. To prevent the EU from turning into a "post-democratic regime of bureaucrats", intellectuals need to stop mumbling and take the fear of Europe seriously. [ more ]
Europe's self-destructive article of faith
union European leaders' unwavering commitment to ever closer union is causing more harm than good, argues Stefan Auer. Europe doesn't need more integration; it needs more democracy. Partial and well-managed disintegration may be preferable to a chaotic implosion. [ more ]
Democracy put to the test
democracy While democracy evaporates on a national level, it doesn't reappear anywhere else, least of all in Europe. Maintaining the democratic nature of our societies depends on the rules of the game we impose on ourselves at the European level, argues José Ignacio Torreblanca. [ more ]
Is Germany's future still European?
An interview with Jan-Werner Müller
Germany Germany's politicians lack deep European convictions yet are susceptible to calls for a more strident role in Europe; and while the mainstream is unlikely to give up what it sees as the recipe for German success, "constitutional patriotism" could allow for greater Europeanization. [ more ]
Get smart
Ireland and the euro crisis
Ireland Ireland, like other small EU member-states, must be especially smart in responding to the euro crisis, since it does not command the resources that better enable larger states to protect their interests. How coherent has the Irish approach been so far and are the alternatives more convincing? [Hungarian version added] [ more ]
Five reasons why Europe is cracking up
political crisis Can Europe really break apart? Yes, of course it can, writes José Ignacio Torreblanca. Few times in the past has the European project been so questioned and its disgraces so publicly exposed as now. It's time to stop looking the other way. [ more ]
War in Europe? Not so impossible
nationalism The dark warnings of the Polish finance minister about the prospect of war in Europe if the crisis deepens were met with scepticism. But there is no call for complacency about where current, nationalist tendencies might lead, writes the editor of "Adevarul Europa". [ more ]
The EU: The real sick man of Europe?
debate Democratic deficit, enlargement fatigue and ever more rescue funds: is there still a future for a common Europe? In a discussion in Eurozine's series "Europe talks to Europe", prominent intellectuals diagnosed causes for the current malaise of the EU. [ more ]
Economy... and ethics
Austerity plus growth: Europe's winning combination?
elections The revival of the parliamentary Left in France, Italy and Greece brings hope for an egalitarian turn in European crisis management. Yet many citizens also fear that the zig zag course will nullify their previous sacrifices in the name of austerity, warns Roland Benedikter. [ more ]
Europe in the trap
economic crisis Claus Offe opts for democracy over the logic of no alternative and a politics that fails to provide the electorate with choices. For therein lies the trap. Only more solidarity and more democracy, he argues, can rescue the eurozone from the brink of collapse. [English version added] [ more ]
Progressive politics for hard times
economic crisis Responding to Tony Judt's appeal to the lost values of social democracy, Michael Ignatieff makes a case for solidarity amidst recession, while arguing for a politics of individual empowerment over corporate and state-sector self-privileging. [ more ]
Talking about my generation
Spain The recession has returned a generation of Spaniards to a cruel reality: that they may have to live with less than their parents did. Whether they alter their expectations or try to stop the clock will be decisive, writes "Letras Libres" editor Ramón González Férriz. [Hungarian version added] [ more ]
The euro crisis: Central European lessons
Central Europe Differing national situations in eastern central Europe explain lack of solidarity and varying perceptions of the crisis' risks and remedies, writes Jacques Rupnik, and can be seen in terms of political lessons learned. [German version added] [ more ]
Farmers in fairy-tale land
Poland and the European crisis
Poland Lack of political decision-making and the demise of objectivism have landed Europe where it is today, argues Marcin Król. A lesson could be learned from Poland, whose tradition of economic liberalism and rural pragmatism has enabled the country to weather the crisis. [Hungarian version added] [ more ]
Structural funds and crocodile tears
Why the EU must share the blame for the Greek crisis
Greece Misdirected EU aid in Greece has fostered political clientelism, writes Iannis Carras. Instead of learning from mistakes, current EU/IMF policy favours construction and privatization of state land. Quite apart from the environmental risks, this is counterproductive in economic terms. [ more ]
Greece: The history behind the collapse
Greece Greece's economic crisis has its roots in a political pact dating back to the foundation of the modern state, writes Georges Prévélakis. The threat posed to Europe by the Greek breakdown is less contagion than a wave of anti-western feeling that could exacerbate geopolitical instabilities. [Hungarian version added] [ more ]
Another groundhog day in Greece?
Greece The suicide of a pensioner outside the Greek parliament, the latest in a series, sums up the mood of a population confronted with the steady erosion of its rights. Victor Tsilonis wonders whether tomorrow will be just another day in Greece's "predestined" future. [ more ]
Stable instabilities
Capitalism in historical perspective
euro crisis It's not capitalism that has come to an end but a mode of politics that seeks to guarantee market stability, argues Werner Plumpe. The crisis must be allowed to serve its cyclical function, the state limiting itself to compensating for the social consequences of economic transformation. [ more ]
"Managed" v "market capitalism": The record
economy The thirty-year long experiment in market capitalism has failed to unleash a new era of dynamism, argues Stewart Lansley. Examining key areas in which the market model was supposed to deliver, he finds that, on almost every count, "managed capitalism" outperformed its successor. [ more ]
Towards the surveillance union
Politics and the euro crisis
tutelage Is the monetary union worth preserving if it means the virtual colonization of the weakest member economies?
Assessing responses to the euro crisis, John Grahl observes a regime emerging in which EU authorities override national decision-making in every aspect of public policy. [ more ]
Crisis in the Eurozone
Debt Europe's dogmatic belief in the intrinsic stability of market economies caused imbalances in competitiveness to be ignored as long as easy credit provided the illusion of growth. Present stabilization arrangements are inadequate: necessary is a Europeanization of debt, argues John Grahl. [ more ]
Markets and society
When high finance cripples the economy and corrodes democracy
Democracy The current financial crisis is not confined to economies, writes former Romanian finance minister Daniel Daianu. The erosion of the middle class, the spread of extremism and the threat to democracy are some of the more obvious social effects demanding attention. [ more ]
Unreal estate
Exit social democracy Freemarket disregard for the elementary moral truths of debt and obligation is to blame for the current crisis, says Roger Scruton. But the call for a return to economic morality is no endorsement of the financial fictions of the social democratic state. [ more ]
Misnomer Euro-crisis
Exit neoliberalism The common "economic governance" being mooted in Berlin and Brussels indeed needs to happen, writes Michael Krätke. The crucial question, however, is what kind of policy the EU would operate. One thing is sure: the neoliberal course taken until now is unsustainable. [ more ]
Economy and ethics in crisis
A new-old East-West divide?
debate The aggressive monetary policies of western financial institutions were a major factor for the crisis of eastern European economies after the bubble burst in 2008. What are the ethical and political implications of western investment in eastern Europe and the globalized economy as a whole? [ more ]
Identity, integration, solidarity
Whose Europe?
broken Europe? The euro will be brought down by a European Tea Party-type movement, predicts Björn Elmbrant. But the EU has a role to play beyond the euro. Instead of a neoliberal politics of austerity we need a Marshall plan for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. [ more ]
Responsibility for Europe: A relative concept
On French-German tensions during the euro crisis
political culture French-German leadership during the crisis has been fraught with tension. It's not so much that Germany is abandoning its responsibilities, more a case of differences in political culture. While Germany may seem dilatory, French resolve forfeits democratic deliberation. [ more ]
Sovereignty, not solidarity
A plea for the sovereignty of Europe's nation-states
eurocrisis As state sovereignty unravels, citizens lose trust in political institutions and the insidious hollowing out of democracy ensues, Rainer Hank rails against the "repressive power that the pressure of solidarity exercises over the parliaments of donor states". [ more ]
Migration, patriotism and the European agendum
An interview with historian of ideas Pierre Manent
European identity A European patriotism can be generated only through political acts that create a sense of solidarity, says historian Pierre Manent. If invocations of Europe are to be anything but vacuous, Europe must be decisive in defining its interests and demarcating its boundaries. [ more ]
Sea and sun for Europe
A new project for the next generation
democracy Democratic upsurge in North Africa can combine with the energy revolution to revive the European project. Two-way developmental traffic across the Mediterranean would leave new generations in both North and South with fair chances of a good life. [ more ]
The EU crisis: Integration or gradual disintegration?
European integration Faced with the costs of the splintering of the euro, EU governments will, however reluctantly, have to agree to deepen not weaken integration, writes John Palmer, former European editor of "The Guardian". And most voters will agree. [ more ]
Which Germany does Europe need?
The German question Euro-scepticism is rampant in the country formerly the driving force of European integration. In order to bring Germany back onside and prevent it feeling exploited, other big EU-states must take a more proactive role in European decision making, writes Ulrike Guérot. [ more ]
Monsters in the mist
Greece Hazy though its contours might be, Greece's economic crisis didn't creep up from behind, writes Victor Tsilonis. The scandals littering Greek politics in recent decades indicate a chronic lack of accountability, culminating in the anti-constitutional approval of the EU/IMF loans. [ more ]
The future?
Euroskansen
Dystopia Europe as outdoor museum? Threatened with extinction by all-consuming privatization and the pursuit of endless profit, self-musealization might be Europe's only hope. Slavenka Drakulic has a scary vision of the future of the European way of life. [ more ]
Partner
This Focal Point represents a cooperation between Eurozine and the Allianz Kulturstiftung, who also supports the Eurozine Review.
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