Corporate Europe Observatory

Activists, campaigners, trade unionists and individuals joined together to call for a halt to the EU's Austerity Treaty at the two-day EU in Crisis conference, organised by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and the Transnational Institute to mark CEO's 15th anniversary.

Activist and writer, Susan George emphasised the anti-democratic nature of the austerity agenda, which has been imposed without debate or electoral support.

Brussels, Monday 7th May – A new pan-European network committed to opposing the European Union's Austerity Treaty was launched today at the end of a two-day conference on the EU crisis [1].

Some 300 people from across Europe joined the two day event in Brussels to discuss the EU in Crisis – analysis, resistance and alternatives.

 

Where does resistance to austerity in Europe stand, four years into the crisis? Journalist Leigh Phillips, until recently based in Brussels, where he reported for the EUobserver and the Guardian, assesses the situation and identifies four priorities for a progressive anti-austerity movement in Europe.

The establishment of the European Monetary Union in the ’90s and the introduction of the euro a decade ago have accelerated the financialisation process in Europe. Antonio Tricarico of Italy's Campaign to Reform the World Bank calls for reflection on how to implement a strategy for excluding financial markets from certain spheres of society through the redefinition of public finance, and for reintroducing controls for movements of capital at national and regional level.