Information package on the dogma of competitiveness and the competitiveness pact

Mainly driven by the German government, the EU´s political elite is planning the introduction of a so-called “competitiveness pact”. What lies behind this is a kind of eternal “Troika for all”. National governments are supposed to agree on ever more neoliberal reforms in bilateral contracts with the EU-Commission. This attack against democracy and social rights must be resisted!And resistance demands information. That is why we have developed an information package in different languages. It consists of four texts: Andy Storey (Attac Ireland) -in cooperation with a working group on economic governance under the umbrella of the AlterSummit process- deals in “Stop competing to death, fight for a decent life” with the basics of the competitiveness dogma and the role of the pact in this context. The fact sheet “Facts on the competitiveness pact” (Attac Germany) briefly mentions some core arguments against the pact. It also includes some political alternatives. Steffen Stierle (Attac Germany) analyses in “Convergence and Competitiveness Instrument” the Commission’s proposal for the introduction of the pact. Finally, in his essay “From the new over the authoritarian to a progressive constitutionalism?”, Lukas Oberndorfer (AK Wien) deals mainly with the democracy dimension.

We see this version of the information package as a draft version, which we want to publish on the occasion of the EU-Summit on 19th and 20th of December. Next year, we plan to develop the package further and we welcome your comments and support!

Read the complete document here

Steffen Stierle and Madeleine Drescher for the working group on Competitiveness