It is no secret that the Eurozone’s economy is stagnant – according to Eurostat the 19-member Eurozone grew by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, while the average unemployment rate remains above ten per cent, with striking inequalities between countries. The only response so far has been the so-called Juncker Plan. However, the measures are far from being adequate to the challenges confronting the EU. Put briefly, the European Commission missed the opportunity to tackle the ecological crisis and the social disintegration poisoning societies from within; once again aid is conditioned solely on competitiveness, ignoring criteria of sustainability or social utility.
transform! and the Brussels office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation will hold a two-day workshop bringing together economists and trade unionists from across Europe to explore the possibility of the current EU institutional framework for another investment policy – and ultimately, a left industrial policy for Europe.
Mario Pianta (University of Urbino), key contributor of a RLS study soon to be released, will present the outcomes of his work regarding the room for manoeuvre for a progressive European industrial policy capable of meeting social needs and addressing ecological imperatives.The so-called Core/Periphery divide – and the ways to overcome it – will also be addressed, as well as the alternative proposals to put forward.
Programme
1st day
13:00 Welcoming Address and Introduction
Roland Kulke (Brussels office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)
Maxime Benatouil (transform! europe)
13:30-15:00 Industrial Policy in Europe – What room for manoeuvre does the current legal framework within the EU offer for a progressive industrial policy?
Mario Pianta (University of Urbino)
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-17:00 Collective Discussion
17:00-17:30 Public Tools of Intervention in the Economy: Public Ownership, Concept of “House Providing”, Sectorial Public Investments; The Experience of Privatization in Italy
Matteo Gaddi (Punto Rosso)
17:30-18:30 Collective Discussion
Dinner
2nd day
09:00 – 11:00 EU Periphery and the Need for a Productive Transformation
Javier Navascués (University of Sevilla): Productive Reconstruction in the EU Southern Periphery
Nadia Garbellini (Punto Rosso): The Structure of European Industry
Vladimir Cvijanovic (Group 22 Think Tank): The Croatian Case
Aimilia Koukouma (Nicos Poulantzas Institute): The Greek Case
A Representative of the Warsaw office of the RLS (tbc): The Polish Case
11:00-12:00 Collective Discussion
12:00-13:00 Lunch Break
13:00-14:00 The Investment Problem in the EU: What Alternative to oppose to the EU Action Plan towards a Capital Markets Union?
Dominique Plihon (ATTAC France): What Alternative to oppose to the EU Action Plan towards a Capital Markets Union?
Peter Wahl (WEED): The Casino in Trouble – The EU Financial Sector under Conditions of Quantitative Easing and Zero Interest Rates
Stephanie Schulte (RMGV) (tbc): Cooperative Banks – Potentialities and Limits
14:00-15:00 Collective Discussion
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-16:30 Final Discussion – The European Left and the Challenge of Planning, Targeting and Channelling Private and Public Investments