Martin Konecny

The Bologna reforms reverse the achievements of Austrian universities policy of the 1970s, when higher education was made available at a mass level, write Martin Konecny and Hanna Lichtenberger. Just as Austria’s entry into the common market consolidated the neoliberal transformation of society, so its implementation of the Bologna reforms cedes mechanisms of national control to the supra-national level. In both cases, the result is the same: inequality and lack democratic accountability.

The economies of central eastern Europe have remained unchanged in at least one respect: their high level of energy wastage. Add to that the explosion of car-use in the region, and eastern central Europe becomes the EU’s major obstacle to reaching its emissions targets for 2020. So why does funding allocated through the European Union still disfavour climate-friendly development?