NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST Paul Krugman has advised Irish voters to vote No in Thursday’s referendum on the Fiscal Compact. “I’ve thought about it, it’s hard. I would say vote No,” he said on BBC Radio 4 this morning. Krugman dismissed the suggestion that a No vote would anger Germany and see Ireland cut off from bailout funds or from the Eurozone. “At this point the Germans need to face the reality that ...

Recent elections in France and Greece have generated a good deal of comment, suggesting that the years of center-right governance in Europe may be coming to an end. The defeat of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France by the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, and the collapse in Greece of political parties that allowed unrestrained capitalism and chaos to take hold, are major developments. But whether they ...

Can the co-op movement be one source of alternatives to marketisation? Hilary Wainwright explores. In the free-for-all over the spoils of the public sector, Tory ministers are playing fast and loose with the concepts of co-operatives and mutuals. They talk blithely about ‘the John Lewis model’. One might smile at the fact that Tories have to raid progressive history, such is the crisis of legitimacy of big ...

Elections in Western parliamentary systems are always about the center. The standard situation is one in which there are two dominant parties – one somewhat right of center and one somewhat left of center. There are differences between the policies these parties pursue when in office, but there are also enormous similarities. The election never reflects a profound political split. Rather, it is about recent ...

The French and Greek elections have already shifted Europe's politics. But it needs real change to hold the right at bay. Revolt against austerity is sweeping Europe. The election of François Hollande has not only opened up the chance of a change of direction in France, but even in the citadels of fiscal orthodoxy in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin. In Greece, Sunday's electoral earthquake has all but destro ...

The entrance of the Chrisi Avgi leader Nikos Michaloliakos in parliament (as a result of the Greek elections on 6 May 2012), has brought to light all of his "heroic" past. His youthful exploits include two incidents with a film interest: The bomb attacks on the cinemas Elli and Rex in central Athens. On March 11, 1978 an explosion shakes the cinema Ellie on Academias street, during a viewing. It is Saturday ...

In order to affirm its loyalty to Europe, the Irish political elite has decided that it is best not to pay too much attention to European reality. "Austerity" may be, as Joseph Stiglitz argued recently, "Europe's man-made disaster", yet the coalition government of Fine Gael and Labour has gambled on positioning Ireland as the poster child for Frankfurt and Berlin's extended experiment in disaster denial. Th ...

Anti-immigration platform finds plenty of supporters with fascist far-right party Chrysi Avgi polling at 5% It is 9 o'clock on a Saturday evening and the stairwell in the apartment block at 50 Deleyiannis is jammed with young men engaging in banter. Most are dressed in black with little or very short hair, some wear black caps emblazoned with the words Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn), almost all ripple with muscl ...

The elections of May 6th take place in a moment that people are facing the absolute misery. After two years of implementation of the destructive policies of the 'memorandums' (cc. the commitments of the Greek government towards the EU, the ECB and the IMF), the Greek elite, the EU, the IMF and the bankers hold the gun to people's head trying to gain moral and political justification for their policies. Duri ...

Donatella della Porta, professor of sociology at the European University Institute, is a signatory to the ‘Another Road for Europe’ appeal, which has a strong emphasis on the need to democratise the EU, not only by strengthening the European Parliament but through greater participation of civil society. ‘Italy needs reforms, not elections,’ declared Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, as h ...