transform! europe and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung invite political scientists and actors to debate the possibilities for common perspectives and action of the Left in Europe in a Berlin-Seminar under the title: “State of Affairs in Europe” in July.
Against the backdrop of blackmail of SYRIZA government in the negotiations with the institutions, further cuts to pensions and social benefits make the mass protests against these measures as against the implementation of the privatization, the continuation of neoliberal politics, the alarming soar of the far right in numerous countries, but also the introduction of new left leaning government in Portugal, the crumbling of the bi-partisan system in Spain which lead to new elections on 26 June, and after the referendum about Britain’s membership in the EU, we believe that a new determination of the positioning of the Left is necessary.
For this a number of conferences, seminars and debates have taken place (especially the foundation and conferences of DiEM-25, the conference ‘Building alliances to Fight Austerity and to Reclaim Democracy’ in Athens, the Plan B-conferences and the strategy conference of the RLS). We do not intend to add another event to this sequence but rather try to draw provisional conclusions of these debates also in the view of the forthcoming congress of the EL.
We want to discuss the following topics:
- State of the Union
- State of the Movements
- State of Politics
The discussions will be in English.
Contact:
Heidi Ambrosch
transform! europe
ambrosch@transform-network.net
Conny Hildebrandt
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
Institut für Gesellschaftsanalyse
hildebrandt@rosalux.de
Programme
Thursday, 7 July: State of the EU – contradictions, polarisations, scenarios
14:00 – 15:00: Welcome and Introduction
- Mario Candeias, director of the Institute for Critical Social Analysis of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (IfG, RLF)
- Walter Baier, coordinator transform! europe
15:00 – 16:30: State of the Union after the UK-referendum – critical scenarios of EU
- Judith Dellheim, RLF, Institut for Critical social analysis, Senior Research Fellow for Solidarity Economy
16:30 – 17:00: Coffee Break
17:00 – 18.00: Reconstruction of the European legislation and Institutions with consequences for the Left
- René Jokisch, Senior Research Fellow DIE LINKE
18.00 – 19.30: The new quality of the shift to the right, the new quality of EU-scepticism and nationalism
- Joachim Bischoff/Bernhard Müller, Redaktion Sozialismus
19:30: Dinner
Friday, 8 July: State of the movement- and power relations in Europe
09:00 – 11:00: The new quality of the shift to the right, the new quality of EU-scepticism and nationalism
- Input and Moderation: Thilo Janssen, Senior Research Fellow , GUE/NGL
- The case of France: Antoine de Cabanes, Espace Marx
- CEE-Countries: Joanna Gwiazdecka, RLS Warsaw; Comment: Holger Politt, RLS, Berlin/Warsaw
- The case of Austria: Hanna Lichtenberger, Aufbruch
- The case of Germany: Joachim Bischoff/Bernhard Müller
11:00 – 11:15: Coffee break
11:15 – 12:30: Scotland, UK and the EU – the EU-referendum: change in the society and mobilisation
- Jan Eichhorn, University of Sussex
12:30 – 13:30: The Situation of the social democrats in Europe
- Short overview: Conny Hildebrandt, Deputy-director IfG
- Renzismo in Italy: Giuseppe Caccia, political scientist, former mayor of Venetia, Italy
- Social democracy in Austria: Hanna Lichtenberger, Aufbruch Austria
13:30 – 14:00: Lunch break
14:00 – 16:00: The social-democrats in Europe: the case Labour-party in the UK
- Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper, UK
16:00 – 16:30: Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:00: Mapping of the Left in Europe
- Dominic Heilig, political scientist, DIE LINKE
- Jiri Malek, SPED, Czech Republic
- Daria Popova/Anton Pechenkin, policial scientist and actors, Ukraine
18:00 – 18:30: Snack
19:00/20:00: Visit of the refugee theatre
Saturday, 9 July: Potentials and projects of the radical left in Europe
09:00 – 10:30: Left and Government
- Example of Greece: Nasos Iliopoulos, SYRIZA, and
- Elena Papadopoulou, economist, General Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Greece
10:30 – 10:45: Coffee break
10:45 – 12:15: Left and Government
- Example of Portugal: André Freire, political scientist, Portugal
- Example of Spain: Marga Ferré, IU, Spain
- Comment: Armando Fernandez Steinko, political scientist, Spain
12:15 – 12:30: Coffee break
12:30 – 13:30: European Migration Policies: A major strategic issue for the European Left
- Vassiliki Katrivanou, psychologist, former MP of SYRIZA, former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, activist in the Human Rights movement
- Gregory Mauzé, political scientist and activist, Belgium
13:30 – 14:15: Final discussion and outlook
14:15 – 15:00: Lunch Break/snack