Global Issues
Overcoming Austerity
After so many budget cuts, belt-tightening, and structural adjustment programmes, a feeling of asphyxiation is gripping large numbers of citizens in many countries of the European Union, writes Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde diplomatique en espanol.
In this analysis, Ramonet writes that the people have the feeling that in Europe today there is a single hidden agenda, which has two concrete objectives: reducing state sovereignty as much as possible and completely dismantling the welfare state. We are living through a sort of enlightened despotism in which democracy is defined less by voting or the possibility of choosing than by respect for rules and treaties (Maastricht, Lisbon, the Fiscal Pact) adopted in the past; it is also defined by a process of ratification in a climate of general indifference, which imposes a juridical straightjacket from which it is impossible to break free.
The recent presidential elections in France provide an interesting perspective. President Francois Hollande is demanding the addition to the Fiscal Pact of a stimulus, solidarity, and growth package. He is also demanding that the European Central Bank (ECB) lower its interest rates and lend directly to the states (and not to private banks) in order to immediately open up a path to recovery. Knowing that the EU can do nothing without France, Hollande could stick to his position and radicalise it, tap into the mobilisation of populist forces in Europe (starting with the Left Front of Jean-Luc Melenchon) and win the support of the many European governments that share his call for stimulus and growth policies. This would force a change in the ECB-Bundesbank line. Ultimately Hollande would prove that in a democracy, when the popular mandate coincides with a firm political will, there is no objective that cannot be achieved.
* Ignacio Ramonet is editor of Le Monde diplomatique en espanol.
© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service