Watch the full video with our guest, Luka Mesec, MP and Coordinator of the Slovenian Levica (The Left).
The Corona-virus has hit the EU unprepared, but in different ways and with different effects depending on the countries. Most tragic were the effects on those countries whose healthcare and social systems have been emaciated by decades of austerity policies. Thus, the pandemic has increased inequalities not only inside the states but also between the Member States of the EU. This presents the parties of the radical left with a challenge and calls for a re-examination of their strategies.
Interviewee
Luka Mesec, Slovenian left-wing activist and politician. He has been involved in the (student) movements in Slovenia that formed the Initiative for Democratic Socialism party and the Združena levica (United Left) coalition in 2014. In the same year, with Mesec as spokesperson, Slovenia became the first post-socialist country in Europe where a new left party was elected to Parliament. Mesec has been an MP since 2014 and since 2017, when the coalition united in the party Levica (The Left), he has been its coordinator.
interviewed by
Dagmar Švendová, transform! europe facilitator for Central and Eastern European Strategy. Previously she worked as a Political Advisor and assistant to Vladimír Remek, Member of the European Parliament (GUE/NGL, CZ Delegation), dealing mainly, but not limited to, space (GNSS – Global Navigation Satellite System), energy and consumer protection.
and
Walter Baier, Austrian economist and former National Chairman of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ). He was an editor of the Austrian weekly Volksstimme and since 2007 he is the Political Coordinator of transform! europe.
The interview was conducted in English.