European Union (EU)

EU Promised ExxonMobil TTIP Would Erase Enviro Obstacles

February 25, 2016 Arthur Neslen, www.theguardian.com Educate! European Union (EU), Exxon, Trade Deal, TTIP

By Arthur Neslen for The Guardian - The European Union’s trade commissioner told the multinational oil company ExxonMobil that a major free trade deal being negotiated with the US would help remove obstacles to fossil fuel development in Africa and South America, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. At a meeting in Brussels in October 2013, Karel de Gucht told the firm that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could address its concerns about regulations in developing countries that restrict the company’s activities.

EU: Left To Reclaim Democracy From ‘Technocrats’

February 14, 2016 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Organize! Austerity, Democracy, European Union (EU), Syriza

By Nadia Prupis for Commondreams. Berlin, Germany - Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Tuesday announced the launch of a pan-European progressive movement to "democratize" the continent and promote alternatives to austerity and authoritarianism. Along with pro-democracy allies from across the continent, Varoufakis—known for his candid rejection of European Union austerity politics during Greece's financial crisis—chose to announce the "Democracy in Europe Movement 2025" (Diem25) at the historic Volksbuehne theater, which is known as a landmark in German leftist activism. "We've chosen Berlin precisely because nothing can change in a progressive direction without the full participation of Germany in our European endeavors," he said during a press conference in the theater.

A Proposal For Economic And Political Transformation In Europe

January 22, 2016 Staff, www.transform-network.net Strategize! Capitalism, European Union (EU)

By Staff of Transform - This EuroMemorandum draws on discussions and papers presented at the 21st Workshop on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, organised by the EuroMemo Group, from 24-26 September 2015 in Roskilde, Denmark. The EuroMemorandum 2016 critically analyses recent economic developments in Europe and emphasises the strong need for an alternative economic policy that is based on the principles of democratic participation, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Spain Says “No”

December 29, 2015 Conn Hallinan, www.counterpunch.org Resist! Banks, European Union (EU), Spain

By Conn Hallinan for Counter Punch - For the third time in a year, the tight-fisted, austerity policies of the European Union (EU) took a beating, as Spanish voters crushed their rightwing government and overturned four decades of two-party reign. Following in the footsteps of Greek and Portuguese voters earlier this year, Spaniards soundly rejected the economic formula of the Troika—the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund—that has impoverished millions of people and driven the jobless rate to almost a quarter of the country.

Finally, The EU Stages An Israel Intervention

December 21, 2015 Resist! European Union (EU), Israel

By Rachel Shabi for Al Jazeera. As the year draws to a close, relations between Israel and the European Union could not sensibly be described as rosy. In fact, they might well be at an all-time low. The simple explanation for this is that, after years of, well, basically dithering, the EU has finally labelled Israeli products that come from settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Finally, because those settlements have been described by the EU (and beyond) as being in breach of international law and an obstacle to peace for decades. Now, Europe's trade agreements have caught up with the law - a bit, anyway. The EU directive is not a ban or a boycott: The labeling very simply means that consumers will know where the products are coming from, and that goods originating from Jewish settlements won't get the preferential treatment that Israeli products receive under trade arrangements with Europe. But Israel has not taken kindly to this development.

European Left Debates A ‘Plan B’ Against Austerity

October 18, 2015 Liam Flenady, www.greenleft.org Resist! Austerity, Europe, European Union (EU)

By Liam Flenady for Green Left - Five key figures of the European left have launched a new initiative “for a Plan B in Europe”. A statement was jointly published on September 11 by former Die Linke (Left Party) leader Oskar Lafontaine from Germany; Italian deputy and economist Stefano Fassina, leader of France's Left Party Jean-Luc Melenchon, and former deputy and parliamentary speaker Zoe Kostantopoulou and ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis from Greece — both former members of SYRIZA who resigned after the left-wing party accepted harsh austerity measures in July. The statement calls for a summit to be held by the end of the year to develop a new common plan for the left in Europe. The signatories say the European left's “Plan A” is to build the fight in each country and across Europe to renegotiate the founding European treaties. These lock the European Union into a neoliberal paradigm. The aim is to open the path to a socially just European model of development. But the statement says this plan, while needed, is insufficient. Europe's left needs a Plan B at its disposal, which will allow any future left government in Europe to face down the blackmail from the European establishment — including threats of expulsion from the eurozone.

Berlin: Hundreds Of Thousands Protest TTIP

October 11, 2015 Chris Johnston, www.theguardian.com Resist! European Union (EU), Neoliberalism, Obama, Trade, TTIP

By Chris Johnston for The Guardian. Berlin, Germany - Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Berlin on Saturday to oppose a planned free trade deal between the European Union and the United States that is claimed to be anti-democratic and to threaten food safety and environmental standards. The environmental groups, charities and opposition parties that organised the protest claimed 250,000 people took part, while a police spokesman said 100,000 attended. Smaller protests were also held in other cities, including Amsterdam, with a rally due to be held in London on Saturday night at which shadow chancellor John McDonnell is scheduled to speak.

Newsletter: Rigged Trade Negotiations Struggle

October 4, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Canada, Climate Change, Democracy, Environment, European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture, Healthcare, Jobs, Privatization, TTIP, TTP

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. For those concerned about corporate power vs. democracy; jobs, the environment, healthcare, food, water, energy, regulation of banks and more – all eyes were on Atlanta this week where 12 nations were negotiating the massive trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The Atlanta meetings come after more than five years of secret negotiations, secret to the public, media and elected representatives but not to transnational corporations. No matter how Atlanta turns out, we are winning and can finish the job. Our goal: end corporate rigged trade and force governments to re-make trade with a goal of putting people and planet first and doing so by negotiating agreements with transparency so the people can participate.

Amid Protests Greece Passes Austerity Bailout

July 15, 2015 Helena Smith and Emma Graham-Harrison in Athens, Ben Quinn, Heather Stewart and Graeme Wearden Resist! Austerity, Bankers, European Union (EU), Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Helena Smith and Emma Graham-Harrison in Athens, Ben Quinn, Heather Stewart and Graeme Wearden for the Guardian - Five years into the worst crisis to hit their country in decades, Greek MPs voted by a large majority in the early hours of Thursday morning to accept draconian austerity as the price of further bailout funds but at great personal cost to prime minister Alexis Tsipras. In a vote that saw tensions soar in and outside parliament, the embattled leader’s radical leftist Syriza party suffered huge losses as 40 MPs revolted against the measures. A total of 229 lawmakers voted in favour of the internationally mandated measures, 64 against and six abstained.

Greece’s Capitulation Reveals Deep Conflicts Within Eurozone

July 13, 2015 Jerome Roos, www.roarmag.org Educate! Austerity, European Union (EU), Finland, France, Germany, Greece

By Jerome Roos for ROAR - For the past two weeks, day-to-day life in Greece has been suspended on a political pendulum swinging violently from one extreme to the other. Between bank runs and mass mobilizations, heroic victories and inglorious defeats, financial blackmail and popular defiance, the future of this small country — and of the entire currency union of which it is a part — still hangs in the balance. It has been an emotional roller coaster throughout, with the collective heartbeat in Athens oscillating wildly between hope and desperation; between the tears of joy at Syntagma on the night of the referendum victory and the cries of agony resounding from the same square just days later, as prime minister Tsipras and his Syriza-led government prepared to capitulate. In the end, the overwhelming sensation is one of confusion and disbelief. What just happened? Was that real? The European Monetary Union is a mortally wounded animal preying blindly on its own tail. The Greek debt saga is merely the signal crisis of its eventual demise; even if it is eventually “resolved”, more intense conflicts are undoubtedly to come.

Those Who Lead Greece To Surrender Should Be Opposed

July 12, 2015 Stathis Kouvelakis, www.jacobinmag.com Educate! Austerity, European Union (EU), Finance and Economy, Greece

By Stathis Kouvelakis for Jacobin - A simple conclusion emerges from all this: with the moves it has made in the last week, the government has achieved nothing other than a full return to previous entrapment, from a much more unfavorable position, under the pressure of even more relentless economic asphyxiation. It has managed to squander the powerful injection of political capital from the referendum in record time, following at all points the line of those who had opposed it and who have every reason to feel vindicated, despite being trounced at the ballot box. But the referendum happened. It wasn’t a hallucination from which everyone has now recovered. Yesterday, late in the evening, it sent to all members of parliament (MPs) a hastily written, twelve-page text, written in English by experts sent by the French government and based on Tsakalotos’ request for a €50 billion loan to the ESM. This is nothing but a new austerity package — actually, a “copy and paste” of the Juncker plan rejected by the electorate a few days ago. Its core is all too familiar: primary surpluses, cuts in pensions, increase in the VAT and other taxes, and a handful of measures to give it a slight flavor of “social justice” (e.g., an increase in the corporate tax rate by two points).

“Guerrilla Warfare Against A Hegemonic Power”

July 12, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Resist! Banking, Europe, European Union (EU), Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt - Banks create money when they make loans. Greece could restore the liquidity desperately needed by its banks and its economy by nationalizing the banks and issuing digital loans backed by government guarantees to its ailing businesses. Greece could provide an inspiring model of sustainable prosperity for the world. But it is being strangled by a hegemonic power in a financial war that is being waged against us all. As reported in Zerohedge, the Greek government was prepared to pursue three “nuclear options” to protect the deposits of the Greek people: (1) nationalize the banks, (2) launch a parallel currency in the form of electronic California-style IOUs, and (3) use the Greek central bank’s printing press to issue euros.

Landslide Victory For ‘No’ Vote In Greece, Rejects Troika

July 5, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Austerity, Democracy, Europe, European Union (EU), Greece, Syriza, Troika

By Staff for Popular Resistance. Today, the people of Greece voted in a landslide to refuse to accept the demands of austerity by the troika by a vote of 61.31% to 38.69%. The vote, along with an IMF report critical of the austerity plan, should open a new round of negotiations in the upcoming week. Syriza is now in a slightly stronger bargaining position and the EU now has to decide whether democracy matters. The people of Greece celebrated the vote despite the unclear and difficult paths ahead. There is a lot of confusion and unpredictable paths ahead. The simpliest path is a better deal from the troika with less austerity and restructured or even forgiven Greek debt, but some of the comments by EU and German finance leaders indicate that is unlikely. A more difficult path with lots of unpredictable repersussions is a Greek exit from the EU and the return to the Greek drachma currency. The choices are difficult, let's hope that the vote today is the beginning of a fresh start and much greater fairness and common sense from the troika.

Greek Villagers’ Secret Weapon

July 5, 2015 Gregory Katz, www.ap.org Create! Austerity, European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture, Greece, IMF

By Gregory Katz in AP. KARITAINA, Greece (AP) — Ilias Mathes has protection against bank closures, capital controls and the slashing of his pension: 10 goats, some hens and a vegetable patch. If Greece's financial crisis deepens, as many believe it must, he can feed his children and grandchildren with the bounty of the land in this proud village high in the mountains of the Arcadia Peloponnese. "I have my lettuce, my onions, I have my hens, my birds, I will manage," he said, even though he can no longer access his full pension payment because of government controls imposed six days ago. "We will manage for a period of time, I don't know, two months, maybe three months, because I also want to give to our relatives. If they are suffering, I cannot leave them like this, isn't that so?"

Greece To Hold Referendum On Bailout Agreement

June 28, 2015 Anastasios Papapostolou, www.greece.greekreporter.com Resist! European Central Bank, European Union (EU), Finance and the Economy, Greece

By Anastasios Papapostolou for Greek Reporter. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece will hold a referendum on July 5 to ask the Greek people if they approve of a bailout deal with the country’s creditors. In a nationally televised address after midnight Friday in Athens, Tsipras announced the July 5 vote and excoriated a take it-or-leave it offer as a violation of European Union rules and “common decency”. “After five months of tough negotiations, our partners unfortunately resorted to a proposal-ultimatum to the Greek people,” Tsipras said. “I call on the Greek people to rule on the blackmailing ultimatum asking us to accept a strict and humiliating austerity without end and without prospect.” He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi have been informed of the plan, and he’ll request an extension of Greece’s existing bailout, due to end June 30, by a few days to permit the vote without having to introduce capital controls in the Greek banks.

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