Political trilemma – Slugger O'Toole

“…basic responsibility of government is to maximise welfare of citizens, not an abstract concept of global good”

Mick Fealty on September 2, 2016, 1:27 pm | Readers 391

Brilliant description of what’s happened to the elite advocates of the benefits of globalisation (note to self: tag under ‘Political Trilemma‘) from Larry Summers in the FT: The mainstream approach starts with a combination of rational argument and inflated rhetoric about the economic consequences of international integration. Studies are produced about the jobs created by trade agreements, the benefits of immigration and the costs of restrictions. In most cases the overall economic merits are clear. But there is a kind …

EU Referendum: “At the start of the campaign I was relaxed over a Brexit vote.”

Pete Baker on June 16, 2016, 9:48 pm | Readers 1363

Interesting piece in the Guardian from Simon Jenkins who, by his own admission, has “long been a Eurosceptic”. Although, as he also points out, “that is not the same as being a leaver.” For a start he is equally critical of the ‘Leave’ and the ‘Remain’ campaigns – an assessment I broadly agree with. Here’s what he has to say on the ‘Remain’ campaign When marching to the remain drum, I have been shocked at the mendacity of “project fear”. …

Brexit, Schmexit, it’s globalisation rather than Brussels that squeezes national sovereignty…

Mick Fealty on June 22, 2015, 4:54 pm | Readers 428

Caroline de Gruyter is the correspondent for NRC Handelsblad in Vienna, and she makes an important point about the rather faux character of the debate on the EU Referendum, thus far… A former village mayor conceded to me that Swiss locals had become rich by selling vineyards to multinational companies and by renting out houses to the new globalized middle class. Life was good, he said; the well-off immigrants Switzerland had managed to attract made other nationals green with envy. …

What Ireland needs is “a return to economics as skillful means…”

Mick Fealty on June 15, 2015, 2:29 pm | Readers 457

Two related pieces from the Irish Times worth sharing. Both under Mark Hennessey’s byline. First this from his interview with Joe Stiglitz… Politicians today offer meagre fare to voters, he says, despondently: “Most government ministers (throughout the world) are middlemen in ideas. They are looking for packaging for simplistic ideas.” For the last few years, the simplistic package, in Stiglitz’s view, has been austerity: “It said austerity works. I very strongly believe it doesn’t. And the IMF – which is …

“…complex issues cannot always be addressed via online petitions.”

Pete Baker on February 7, 2015, 6:16 pm | Readers 843

Sinn Féin, and others, agitating on behalf of “the Syriza experiment” following the recent elections in Greece, has more to do with positioning to blame the current Irish Government for the likely outcome [added link] than any professed desire for a resolution in Ireland’s favour. But there are a few things to note about the rise of the various Eurosceptic and anti-establishment parties across Europe [Who “will ultimately chose financial and macroeconomic stability over revolution? – Ed]. Perhaps… Firstly, domestic democratic pressures …

How to engage voters without ignoring concerns or imitating insurgent political forces?

Mick Fealty on June 12, 2014, 1:21 pm | Readers 52

There’s an interesting dynamic going on in politics more broadly just now. Win or lose the Scottish Referendum, the Yes/SNP’s seemingly endless roadshow puts the emphasis on engagement with the Yes support is smart politics. Sean Trende analysing how Eric Cantor lost the Republican nomination for his home district gives precise reasons why incumbents who forget to attend to the business of ‘the Parish’ are in big trouble in these troubled times: Cantor seemed more focused on the second and …

“this month you will see a kind of victory for the Eurosceptics…”

Pete Baker on May 19, 2014, 4:58 pm | Readers 47

Ahead of the EU-wide parliamentary elections, a much needed overview from BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt of the state of the European Project and its extant political trilemma. From Gavin Hewitt’s article Unless the polls are very wrong, sometime next weekend Europe will learn that at least a quarter of the seats in the next European Parliament will have gone to anti-establishment and Eurosceptic parties. The figure could even be closer to 30%. In many places the election has become …

Cyprus: So what happens next?

Pete Baker on March 19, 2013, 9:01 pm | Readers 50

The Guardian’s still live-blogging, for now, in the aftermath of Cyprus’ parliament’s rejection of an, albeit amended, EU/IMF cunning plan bail-out which included the public seizure levying of €5.8billion from private depositors in Cypriot banks – 36 votes against, 19 abstentions, none in favour. The paper’s economics editor, Larry Elliot, answers the title question …there are really only two plausible scenarios: somebody – be it Europe or the IMF – gives Cyprus more money, in which case there is a chance that the crisis …

Italy: “History risks repeating itself…”

Pete Baker on February 22, 2013, 3:58 pm | Readers 47

The BBC’s Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt has been looking to Italy ahead of a general election brought 2 months early after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew support for Mario Monti’s technocratic government – voting begins on Sunday. The FT notes that Strong, stable government will be needed to continue the reform process put in place by Mr Monti’s technocrats, and to argue in Brussels for more growth-oriented policies and a possible relaxation of fiscal deficit targets. However, the worst-case scenario emerging from …

Euro crisis: “It’s politics without policy choice…”

Pete Baker on June 19, 2012, 2:55 pm | Readers 64

The pressure is definitely beginning to tell on the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the G20 summit in Mexico. No news yet from Greece, and the markets are still betting against Spain. He may, as he claims, have a “vision of where we need to go“, or he may, as Michael White says, be sticking his head in the sand. In any case, at Crooked Timber Niamh Hardiman has been looking more closely at the end-game for the political trilemma. …

“The JHA Council’s approach of 7 June represents a slap in the face of parliamentary democracy”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2012, 6:42 pm | Readers 50

If the euro crisis wasn’t enough of a concern for supporters of the European Project, the attempted reform of Schengen is causing another headache. The European Parliament has now suspended co-operation with the European Council on five draft bills connected to border security “until a satisfactory outcome is achieved on Schengen governance.” The Conference of Presidents also decided to remove from the July plenary session agenda the Carlos Coelho report on a proposal for a Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism and the Renate Weber …

Euro crisis: “I am not sure whether the urgency of this is fully understood in all the capitals”

Pete Baker on June 13, 2012, 3:59 pm | Readers 65

It would be fair to say that there remains a difference in opinion of the correct response to the euro crisis. The BBC quotes European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. European governments need to agree urgently on steps to forge a closer union because of the eurozone’s “systemic problem”, the head of the European Commission says. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for a “vision of where we need to go”. “I am not sure whether the urgency of this …

Euro crisis: “These are empty, senseless phrases, an abuse of language”

Pete Baker on June 12, 2012, 12:32 pm | Readers 83

In the Irish Times, Paddy Woodworth notes an all-too-familiar tale of political chutzpah in Europe [Nevermind closer to home! – Ed]. This time it’s the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and his spin on that ‘magic bullet’. From the Irish Times report The total reversal of his oft-stated conviction that no EU money was needed by the Spanish banks became the vindication of his strategic abilities. Flying in the face of well-documented alternative accounts of events, he insisted that it was …

Euro crisis: “Europe’s common currency is its formative element.”

Pete Baker on June 4, 2012, 5:32 pm | Readers 35

The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, has a plan. Or, at least, a timetable. Herman Van Rompuy told a news conference in St Petersburg, Russia that, by the next summit of EU leaders at the end of June, he and three other EU officials would present “the main building blocks for this deepened economic and monetary union” and “a working method to achieve this objective”. “In those building blocks, banking integration is an important chapter… I will deal at …

Euro crisis: “With that we buried the Maastricht Treaty, the legal basis for currency union”

Pete Baker on May 22, 2012, 3:32 pm | Readers 62

A couple of interesting reports in the Irish Times with relevance to the ongoing euro crisis. First, from Derek Scally in Berlin …Mr Asmussen, a member of the ECB governing council, said growth measures – agreed without reopening the fiscal treaty – could help drive European integration. “The benefits of a currency union are so outstanding that they should be stabilised by deepening, which means a fiscal union and banking union as well as a democratic legitimised political union,” said …

Euro crisis: “the quadriga is a perfect symbol of how confused and contested that project has become”

Pete Baker on May 20, 2012, 10:11 pm | Readers 11

Tim Garton Ash asked, “Who wishes to address the assembly?“. Will Self has a point of view on the euro crisis and the European Project’s democratic deficit. You can listen to his Radio 4 Point of View here. From the accompanying BBC Magazine article That these same politicians were afflicted by a strange sort of doublethink – both aspiring towards unity, and desperate for their own nationalistic electorates to preserve the substance of their sovereignties – was and is the …

Euro crisis: “Hold your sides and laugh out loud, otherwise you’ll have to cry.”

Pete Baker on May 11, 2012, 4:33 pm | Readers 59

Despite some optimistic noises overnight, it still seems more likely than not that Limbo Greece will face new elections. As the Guardian live-blog noted earlier today The Democratic left party in Greece has said it will not back a pro-bailout government. That almost certainly means that Venizelos’s attempts to form a government coalition around agreement on the bailout terms are dashed and that the country will face fresh elections In the meantime, there are still a few days left to catch eurosceptic Michael Portillo’s …

Euro crisis: “The worst, I fear, still lies ahead.”

Pete Baker on March 20, 2012, 6:36 pm | Readers 562

In a recent column in the FT, Wolfgang Münchau asked an interesting question [free reg req] The markets have concluded that the eurozone crisis has ended. Several politicians said that they, too, believed that the worst was over. Complacency is back. I recall similar utterances in the past. Whenever there is some technical progress – an umbrella, a liquidity injection, a successful debt swap – optimism returns. If you think the European Central Bank’s policies have “bought time”, you should …

Euro crisis: “When preserving the status quo is no longer a viable option…”

Pete Baker on August 13, 2011, 2:40 pm | Readers 6

The Italian government is facing internal dissent over the terms and conditions of the European Central Bank’s “sticking plaster”. Meanwhile, in the Irish Times, another supporter of the “European Project”, Thomas Klau, referencing the recent FT article by Otmar Issing I mentioned, at least identifies the fundamental area for discussion. In the English-language debate particularly, the relationship between democracy and European integration is often most vigorously argued about by Eurosceptics. It is essential for advocates of deeper European integration not …