by Ingeborg Beugel on September 11, 2012   Dutch and German politicians like to blame Greece for refusing to stick to the agreements — but, in truth, the Greeks are doing more than they should.   Everyone who talks about Greece these days — even well-intentioned liberals — seems to assume a priori that Greece is somehow “opposing the reforms” and “refusing to stick to the agreements”. With Dutch P ...

By LIZ ALDERMAN ATHENS — Anastasia Kastaniotou, a struggling mother of three, stood near the Greek Parliament building on Wednesday and threw up her hands as she contemplated an €11.5 billion austerity package that her country’s government was trying to tie up this week to keep Greece in the euro.   Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been scrambling to seal a deal with his coalition government for fres ...

Its neighbors may be suffering, but the euro crisis has created conditions that actually benefit the German economy. Not only is the government enjoying the windfall of negative interest rates on bonds, but unemployment is down and exports are booming. By Stefan Schultz   It's every debtor's dream. When asked for a loan, the bank not only agrees, but actually pays the borrower for their patronage. It s ...

A leaked email sent to the Greek Ministries of Finance and Labor from the Troika says Greek private sector workers should work six days a week and longer hours. The letter, which was published on August 31, shows that the Troika expects the Labor Ministry to implement a number of other new measures. They include reducing the notice period before firing a worker, and cutting certain severance packages by 50 ...

 Roemer's Presence in a Coalition Could Tip Balance of the Netherlands' Approach to the Euro-Zone Crisis By MATTHEW DALTON BOXMEER, the Netherlands—Emile Roemer is the smiling face of an electoral force that is upending Dutch politics and threatening to challenge Europe's German-led austerity strategy for solving the euro-zone crisis. Mr. Roemer, a former elementary-school teacher, is head of the Dutch Soci ...

Sign the petition. The Concerned VU Group (Verontruste VU’ers) seeks national and international solidarity to stop its Executive Board from the imminent implementation of a Strategic Plan based on a strict business model that has been rejected by the VU University’s Works Council and the Trade Unions. The VU University Amsterdam is no exception to the current European trend of commercializing public educati ...

Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, mayor of Marinaleda plans to march across Andalusia and persuade local leaders to skip debt payments! A Spanish mayor who became a cult hero for staging robberies at supermarkets and giving stolen groceries to the poor sets off this week on a three-week march that could embarrass the government and energise anti-austerity campaigners. Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, mayor of the ...

The 200 miners that were walking the “Black Marches” since the 22nd of June, have finally arrived in Madrid this week, only to be swallowed up by thousands of demonstrators who have taken to the streets again in support of their struggle. They have come to protest the Spanish government's decision to renege on their commitment to subsidize the sector until 2018, a decision that will affect all of the mining ...

Het overleg tussen Abvakabo FNV, de overige werknemersorganisaties en het College van Bestuur van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) over een sociaal plan is stukgelopen. De VU wil niet tegemoetkomen aan de belangrijkste eisen van medewerkers: geen gedwongen ontslag en een salarisgarantie voor herplaatste werknemers. ...

Austerity has hit Greek universities in many ways: University budgets (excluding salaries) have been slashed by more than 50%, leading to serious problems (lack of heating, lack of funding for basic needs). Funding for adjunct faculty has been reduced by almost 70% leading to hundreds of lay-offs. Several hundred elected faculty members have been waiting, in some cases even for 2 years, for their official a ...