Is a European Federation the solution to Europe’s woes? Can the European Left play a more decisive role in European politics?

There has been a lot of debate on how to solve the economic crisis that affected all the European nations for the past decade. 

Since then, there have been many calls from many European politicians, that a closer political union or even a European Federation could offer the solution.

I have arranged an interview with Paul Murphy, a former Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency, to discuss his thoughts on the issue. Paul represented the Socialist Party of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL). 

He believes that something has to be done on a European level, as the crisis is a European wide phenomenon. “Though in reality, it is a strategy pursued by the EU Commission,” Paul clarifies. “I do not think it will be a question of the Commission changing its mind. Because it represents certain dominant interests, like those of the bondholders and the banks”. “In a sense, they do not really care if the European economy is destroyed as long as they get the maximum return. They do not have a long-term vision for Europe’s economy at the moment,” Paul continues.

“I do not accept this notion of the people of the periphery against the people in the center, but there is a question of the establishment within the center, against people everywhere,” Paul clarifies, in regard to the growing division between Northern and Southern countries. Paul mentions as an example of what needs to be done, one of the most positive events that took place last November. There was a general strike, to some degree, called in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta and in Italy, more or less successful in different countries. 

“Currently I do think that a closer political integration or a federation would solve Europe’s woes,” Paul says. He believes that this is the strategy of the most far-thinking elements of the capitalist class in Europe and there is logic to it. In a sense that if Europe becomes more like one country, our problems will disappear. At the moment these problems are about the monetary union. But if the political union is going to be built on the basis they want, austerity will be at the core of it and be written into its rules. “That is what the European establishment wants and what the fiscal treaty is all about,” he explains.

“What the establishment wants is the fundamental diminution of people’s democratic rights. They are using the crisis to create a Europe that is even more removed from ordinary people across Europe, where neoliberal rules define what the EU is,” Paul states. Part of their solution is about removing power from people, in putting pressure on their governments to oppose policies.

“Ultimately I am in favor of a European Union, but on a fundamentally different basis. The road to a democratic socialist Europe, does not lie in further integration and political union from the current EU, but from a different kind of union,” Paul argues.“Because the whole thing is built completely undemocratically and ripe with an economic agenda are at the very center of what the EU is today,” he adds.

Furthermore, Paul thinks that within or without the EU, if our governments continue with the austerity policies it is going to lead to a disaster anyway. “The main thing I would say to do is to break with austerity policies. Pursue socialist policies and refuse to be blackmailed about the question of euro because that is going to happen”. 

The European establishment will say that if we chose not to pay the bondholders, we will be kicked out of the euro. “If the price of defending public services is to be kicked out of the euro then we should take it, because it is better”, he explains. Moreover, he emphasizes that “being kicked out of the euro does not have to be a disaster. It could be, if it is not combined with policies of major investment plans; nationalization of the banks and capital control for example. There are a number of social policies that have to be implemented together with the exit from the euro to prevent a disaster”.

He believes that we also need more coordination among the Left parties in Europe to achieve a fairer continent. “It is not an easy thing to do, because of the different traditions people are coming from. The best thing we can do right now is to really try and create common struggles around austerity and privatizations,” Paul claims.

Ultimately, we could create a fundamentally different kind of Europe. “This Europe, as in the European Union and the institutions that we have, can come under pressure and give more concessions with struggle from below,” he explains. “If we had genuinely left governments in a number of countries in Europe, then we could have a majority in the European Council, the Commission and then we could shift things leftward. I do not think that this is going to happen and I do not think that this European Union can be transformed into a real vehicle for socialist change,” Paul says.

Because if a series of governments coming from Greece, for example, implement left-wing policies, then those policies are against the law of the European Union. “That is the reality”.If governments try to meet the expectations of the people, then they would have to refuse to pay at least a large portion of the debt. The European establishment is not going to accept that and then these governments would lose their vote in the European Council, because it would be in defiance of many other of things.

“There is sort of a Left party in Europe, the so-called European Left Party, but I think it needs to be broader in a sense. Its main political line comes from a certain political tradition. In the Left, we have many differences towards the nature of the EU”.

“We need to create something with a different political complexion so that evoke forces coming from different political traditions. It is useful to have GUE/NGL and work within the European Parliament, but actions must take place outside the Parliament as well,” Paul suggests.

“Neo-liberalism is at the heart of the European Union project now and I do not think it is possible to break the rules and remain inside. What is most likely to happen if you break the rules, is that you will be forced out of the euro and perhaps out of the EU,” he explains.

But in doing that you will also inspire people in other countries to do the same and then, we could have a basis for a new federation of countries coming together on a fundamentally different basis. “Like trade relations based on solidarity, mutual assistance and perhaps having a new common currency or common exchange rate,” Paul believes.

“European unification has to be done anew, fresh starting over again from below. It won’t happen overnight. A lot of struggle would be required with the institutions of the old EU,” he concludes.

Young Greeks in crisis, in a post crisis country.

Over 427,000 people left Greece since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008, marking the third wave of mass emigration in the 20th and 21st centuries. (Greek Reporter)

The country experiences a wave of mass emigration. The experience of expatriates may be a key to learn best practices from other countries.

Many of the emigrants are young and well educated, resulting in a brain-drain for the Greek society and economy that ultimately is bad news for the country. 

A lot of these job opportunity seekers, migrate to other EU member states with stronger economies which offer more opportunity to develop their careers. Yet some of them have found themselves in a peculiar situation. The Greek community in Ireland is growing, despite the difficulties that the Irish economy went through during the past years.

It is estimated that the number of Greeks in the country has doubled - if not tripled, over the period that followed both the Greek and the Irish bail-outs programmes. Partially because Ireland was the first country to exit the EU/IMF monitoring program, there are many other factors that despite all flaws, make the Irish economy more competitive than the Greek. 

Apart from the obvious advantages of the English language, its strong ties with the USA and strategic location close to most major European economies, plus of course the much-debated corporate taxation system, Ireland has established a more business-friendly economy.

"In 5 working days, you can set up your business"
Giorgos Stamopoulos is originally from the city of Patra in Greece. He moved to Ireland about 5 years ago, where he started working in various jobs in customer service and the IT industry. But 4 months ago, he decided with his partners to open “Eat-Greek,” a takeaway restaurant in Dublin. Back home, he used to run his own business in the frozen meats trade, but as the economic crisis took over the country, it was hard to make any profit. “People just did not have the money to make any payments,” he describes.

His new business venture in Ireland is doing very well so far. Overall Giorgos is very impressed and satisfied with the way business is conducted in the country.

“It is very easy to get a license and open a shop in this country, as the license is being issued on the property rather on the individual owner, like in Greece,”  he says.

“There is less paperwork or red-tape and dealing with the banks or the local authorities is very much straight-forward,” Giorgos continues. 

“Back in Greece opening your own business takes too much time and money, as there are a lot of parties involved; from solicitors to public servants, the owner of the premises, the business partners,” he describes.

In addition, taxation is made easy in Ireland and everything is streamlined to do business faster and with less effort.

The working conditions are better too. There is far more meritocracy in Irish businesses and if you work hard you will succeed, according to Giorgos. Adam Kritidis moved to Dublin around 22 years ago, from his hometown of Edessa. He is also a business owner in Ireland, although for much longer than Giorgos.  He opened his first restaurant 16 years ago, and since then he has co-owned to another 8 restaurants in Dublin. 

Adam also points out Ireland’s “business-friendly” mentality. “In 5 working days, you can set up your business and additionally, 7 days are required for opening a bank account for it,” he states. That is something that Greece is still lacking behind, hindering naturally much of its business and economic development.

"There is a better work culture" 
People that arrived more recently in Ireland, have noticed major differences between the two countries.

Theodoros Zioutos came to Dublin in 2015, while already being married with two children. He arrived on his own, while his family stayed back in Greece for a while. They were reunited once he settled into his new home. He is a sound engineer, a profession he has been doing since 1995 in Greece. With 20 years of experience, Theodoros decided to resettle in Ireland, as he saw his working rights being scrapped in a country disintegrating under a deep economic crisis.

“I felt that I had no career prospects anymore, while I was seeking to find a financially safer and stable environment to raise my two kids,” he describes. 

“In Ireland, working experience is being rewarded and acts as a bonus when seeking employment. There is a better work culture, with staff getting lunch breaks and receiving the necessary rest between shifts,” Theodoros continues.

He adds that health and safety issues are being taken seriously, there is a meritocracy and adequate training is always being given. “Overall there is far more professionalism in an Irish workplace, than in Greece,” he adds.

Theodoros thinks that Greece could follow Ireland’s example in many ways. This includes a better organization and prioritization, less red tape and a more transparent taxation system. In short, streamlining the state’s institutions and their functions.

"I need to work fewer hours to make ends meet"  

His quality of life has improved since he moved to Ireland. “I need to work fewer hours to make ends meet, thus I can spend more time with my family, which is important,” he says.

Under the current economic climate, Theodoros does not consider returning to Greece. Yet because of the uncertainty that exists in Europe due to Brexit, he does not exclude moving on to another EU country. There are some things though that some new arrivals from Greece find harder to adopt, although in general, their experiences remain positive.

Matina Velonaki is originally from Athens in Greece. She studied English Literature and prior to her moving to Ireland, she worked as an English teacher. She was also working freelance as a translator but unfortunately, she was not making enough money from either job. Her income in Greece during the crisis was amounting to about 50 € a week.

Matina visited Dublin in 2009 and stayed in the country for one year for studies. After two years back in Greece, she returned to Ireland to find a job. She settled in the city of Cork where she started working in a Greek-speaking, customer service industry related job.

Matina feels that working conditions in Ireland are far better than Greece overall, but she also came across various working conditions, some that she was unfamiliar with, in her home country.

"Bogus Contracts" 
“I have never heard of the so-called “bogus contracts” that several multinational companies offer their workers,” she explains. 

“Working with no sick leave, demanding working conditions, flexible hours with the minimum wage, plus no worker’s benefits, is something I was not aware that existed in Ireland,” she describes.

During her career, she experienced lack of job security in some multinational companies and in addition, very tough competition among Greeks. She believes that because of the hardships back home, several Greek workers in Ireland have become extra competitive to maintain these jobs.

She plans to remain in Ireland for the long term, but preferably move to Dublin. She got used to the way things work here, although she misses her home country occasionally.

Lessons for Europe

These examples showcase a different work culture that Greece and other EU member states could consider in order to make their economies more competitive.

Not all of them might be applicable to other places in Europe, however examining and debating on them could offer valuable insights on how to reform the way we conduct and attract business, copy the beneficial parts, avoid the mistakes. Thus, expatriate communities could prove to be the best source of experience and knowledge on such issues. I wonder how could their voices be heard, both by their adopted and native countries, to create a constant database of shared apprehension on how to conduct business across Europe.

(Originally written for One Europe by me in 2017)

The world community must step in to stop the war in Syria...And that excludes USA, Russia, Britain and France!

On Friday the 13th of April, USA, France and Britain have finally bombarded Syria, despite Russian threats and objections. The move comes months after the alleged poisoning of the Skripals in the UK, plus an overall build-up of tensions between the West and Russia.

Accusations and counter-accusations, denying, lying and propaganda from both sides and their media, have done very little to help end the war, which been raging for 7 years now. After an estimated death toll of 400,000 people, plus a country in absolute ruin, the international community still hasn't managed to stop this bloodshed.

I won't even bother taking sides or put the blame on who started it, which side is right or wrong, or justify the involvement of either Russia or USA, France and Britain in this conflict. Their participation was alleged to help end this war, but it is obvious that either side is really interested in this.

Both want to protect their own interests in the region, or the interests of their allies, like Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia, who are also involved in this messy conflict.

The point is that the time is ticking and by now, the world has lost and failed a whole generation of Syrians. We have let a country to be destroyed, consumed by geopolitics, foreign and internal interests, greed, power mongering and petty religious and ethnic politics in the Middle East.

On top of that, we deny this generation protection or help, we stigmatize them and we close the doors to them. We have failed them again and again and any civilized human being would be ashamed of its kind right now.

The Western allies had no authority to bombard Syria, no mandate by their own parliaments nor the UN and the international community. They just did so to make a point to Russia, which similarly did not have a UN support either to take action in Syria.

One can, of course, blame Russia for its involvement in this conflict, however, how can the West have the nerve to accuse the Russians of their actions, since they have done the same if not worse in the past? They lied about the true reasons behind their involvement in the destabilization of most of the region's countries, yet now they disagree and point the finger when Russia is taking action.

Still, it was the West which initially opened the bag of Aeolus, by its constant meddling and siding with the Saudi's or the Israelis and their interests in the region.  So it is futile to even enter into a conversation about the reasons that led to this war.

That comes to little help or consolation to the Syrians, which right now they need to get their country back. And it is becoming obvious that this isn't anywhere in the near future.

The only solution is if other nations, like China, India, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden or any other of the neutral and influential countries in this world, step up and stand against both Western and Russian interests, or those of their allies in the region, putting an end to this conflict.

It is becoming obvious that the UN in its current form is paralyzed and useless. It is only a reflection of the world's division between the West and everyone who is challenging its hegemony, thus constituting the necessity for its urgent reformation.

Under its present arrangement, no conflict that falls under the interests of the USA, its allies or their enemies can ever be resolved or peace to be re-established, unless of course as the Russians have put it, the Americans step in and impose it by military force, acting like the police of this planet. In the past, the US even ignored in numerous cases the UN's decision and invaded countries anyway.

This has to change. We need new players around the globe, to challenge and change the current status-quo, for the sake of the future generations. There should be an active involvement of diplomats that are impartial from either side's interests, independent, to step in and solve conflicts such as this, by discussing and mediating with the two conflicting sides, not the foreign powers which have interests in the region.

That is why we need a multi-polar world now more than ever, new blocks and countries to become more active and vocal, limiting the power and its abuse by the established leading "first world" nations or those who oppose them.

What we are witnessing is only the beginning, a new cold war between two old hostile blocks that have nearly ruined the world in the past. We can not let them do it again in our generation.

Protests against water charges in Ireland, 2015.

For the first five years of the euro-zone economic crisis, the attention of the media and European public was focused on Greece. Every development, strike, protest, fault or scandal was reported by most major media organizations in the continent.

So much that people almost forget that this crisis was not confined in Greece only. It has affected most countries in Europe, especially those in the eurozone. Yet while we have had a detailed portrayal or all events in Greece, we rarely had any information on how other countries are responding to austerity.

In 2015, Ireland has seen an unprecedented amount of its citizens, joining anti-austerity protests. What triggered the demonstrations was the introduction of water charges, which are part of the austerity policies that Ireland had to adopt, under its bailout plan.

Various anti-austerity, Left-wing platforms or community groups, have joined and initiated the protests, which started about a year ago. They were all driven by an “austerity fatigue”, plus a growing feeling of injustice, where people were called to bail-out financial institutions.

The protests came to the fore of public attention, with a protest of around 100,000 people in Dublin on 11 October last year. People across the country were involved, from all backgrounds. The latest one took place on August the 29th, in which some 80,000 people participated.

For someone that does not live in Ireland, a protest against water charges may seem odd. Every nation in Europe has already introduced water bills decades ago. In addition, Irish people will enjoy the cheapest charges in Europe for water. So why do they protest?

The water charges debate is not anything new in the country. It has been going on for decades and in fact in the past, water charges were introduced and then abolished by previous governments.

The situation was always a complex one, with local authorities and the elected government of each given period engaging in negotiations, leading to various agreements.

From introducing council service charges or “double taxation” as some named them, to payments through local government funds, governments tried to come up with solutions.

One Irish political figure, who is extremely vocal on the issue, is Paul Murphy. The former Member of the European Parliament is now a TD for the Anti-Austerity Alliance in the Dail (Irish Parliament).

Paul explains that there has never been a separate charge for water in Ireland; it has been paid through general central taxation. He believes that its use should be remitted through progressive taxation like income, wealth and corporation tax, rather than regressive indirect taxes like water charges.

“Charges like these will penalize those who have the least the most, whereas those who have the most would barely feel the charge,” he says.

“The Irish public is also opposed to the charges, because they think they are a precursor to making water a commodity and then privatizing their water infrastructure,” Paul describes.

He adds that people are involved heavily in the protests, because they have had seven years of vicious austerity. Which amounted to €31 billion of extra cuts and taxes, thus the timing of the introduction of the charges is bad.

“The government announced a recovery that few experience, plus they wanted to continue with austerity in the form of these water charges. The accumulated anger over the course of the crisis, exploded on this issue,” Paul notes.

The protests have been enormously successful so far, being the biggest social movement in decades. They forced the government to make significant concessions, delaying the charge and reducing it significantly, trying to convince people to pay it.

“Most importantly, the movement has succeeded in having 57% of people refuse to pay the water charges, despite months of propaganda and scaremongering,” explains Paul.

Left-wing groups, including the Anti-Austerity Alliance are heavily involved, but it has also created a whole new activist layer in a society of thousands of people.

“The political elite are scared of the anti-water charges movement. They thought they had gotten through the crisis without major social movements and political radicalization. Now they face both on this issue.” Paul describes.

“Their response has been an unprecedented level of state repression. People are arrested daily for protesting against water meters,” he notes.

The largest demonstrations have seen up to 200,000 protesters joining in a series of regional initiatives. Over 50% of them according to surveys have never been involved in protests before.

Although there are not active links with other movements across Europe, there is a widespread sentiment of solidarity with other working people across Europe. For example, during the anti-water charges protests, many of the protesters were holding Greek flags.

“In Ireland just as in Greece and Spain, the traditional establishment parties have been significantly undermined. There is a rise in support for left-wing and socialist parties like the Anti-Austerity Alliance,” says Paul.

But why Ireland has escaped the focus of the European media, regarding such protests? “The defeat of the Syriza government, under the pressure of incredible and undemocratic bullying by the EU, is used by the Right in Ireland to undermine the Left” he explains.

“There is a big lie surrounding Ireland; that it is the success story of austerity and that people accepted it. The Irish government and the European authorities are complicit in this, each for their own purpose,” Paul describes.

“For the Irish government, it means a pat on the back by the EU Commission. For the EU authorities, it provides a stick to beat the people of Greece with, showing that supposedly austerity works,” he adds.

“The movement around water charges explodes that lie and doesn’t fit with the narrative that is shared by the establishments across Europe. That is why what is happening in Ireland, is not largely reported,” Paul concludes.

Ireland had a general election within the next eight months after the protests and with widespread non-payment, the water charges were a key issue which heavily influenced the outcome. There was be immense pressure on the next government, to abolish water charges and Irish Water.

Eventually, the government was defeated and IRISH WATER has begun repaying customers on their water charges from Monday 20 November 2017. President Michael D Higgins signed the Water Services Bill 2017 into law, clearing the way for water charges to be repaid. (The Journal)

This article was written originally by me in 2015 and was exclusively published for OneEurope. Now I have decided to include it and republish it on my own blog.