21st Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe

from 24-26 September 2015, organised by the EuroMemo Group and jointly hosted with the Department of Society and Globalisation and the Global Dynamics initiative at Roskilde University in Denmark

Addressing Europe’s Multiple Crises: An agenda for economic transformation, solidarity and democracy

The EuroMemo Group conference 2015 was jointly hosted with the Department of Society and Globalisation and the Global Dynamics initiative at Roskilde University, from 24-26 September 2015 (Thursday-Saturday). The programme was as follows:

Thursday afternoon: The state of the Union

• Hanne Leth Andersen (Rector of Roskilde University): Welcome
• Jesper Jespersen (Roskilde University): Opening
• Nicos Theocarakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens): Political State of the Union
• Gary Dymski (Leeds University Business School): Economic State of the Union
• Laura Horn (Roskilde University): The Role of Social movements in the crisis

Friday morning: The second day was dedicated to key themes of EU policy within five different workshops.

• Macroeconomic policies
• A critical assessment of the project of European Monetary Union
• Labour markets, demographic change and migration
• Youth unemployment, precarity and poverty
• EU external relations and the new trade agenda

Friday afternoon: Plenary on policy proposals from workshops and special plenary ‘The Economics of the European Constitution: Locking in Austerity’

• Agustín José Menéndez (ARENA Centre for European Studies; University of Léon, Department of Public Law, Spain)
• Magnus Ryner (Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London)

Saturday morning: Planning meeting: EuroMemorandum 2016 and other activities

Programme

21st Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, 24-26 September 2015, organised by the EuroMemo Group and jointly hosted with the Department of Society and Globalisation and the Global Dynamics initiative at Roskilde University in Denmark

Thursday 24 September

2:30 – 3:00 Arrival & registration

3:00 – 6:30 Plenary: The state of the Union (25.1 theory room ‘aquarium’)

• Hanne Leth Andersen (Rector of Roskilde University): Welcome
• Jesper Jespersen (Roskilde University): Opening
• Nicos Theocarakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens): The Political State of the Union
• Gary Dymski (Leeds University Business School): The Economic State of the Union
• Laura Horn (Roskilde University): The Role of Social Movements in the Crisis
• Open discussion

Friday 25 September

9:00 – 1:00 Five parallel workshops

Workshop 1: Macroeconomic policies
Coordinator: Achim Truger, 25.3 theory room

Workshop 2: A critical assessment of the project of European Monetary Union
Coordinator: Trevor Evans, 25.1 klynge room

Workshop 3: Labour markets, demographic change and migration
Coordinators: Marcella Corsi and Mahmoud Messkoub, 25.3 klynge room

Workshop 4: Youth unemployment, precarity and poverty
Coordinator: John Grahl, 24.1 klynge room

Workshop 5: EU external relations and the new trade agenda
Coordinators: Ronan O’Brien and Catherine Sifakis, 24.1 theory room

1:00 – 2:00 Lunch

2:00 – 3:45 Plenary on policy proposals from workshops (25.1 theory room ‘aquarium’)

4.15 – 6.00 Special Plenary ‘The Economics of the European Constitution: Locking in Austerity’ (25.1 theory room ‘aquarium’)

• Agustín José Menéndez (ARENA Centre for European Studies; University of Léon, Department of Public Law, Spain)
• Magnus Ryner (Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London)

Saturday 26 September

9:00 – 12:00 Planning meeting: EuroMemorandum 2016 and other activities (25.1 theory room ‘aquarium’)

Workshops & Papers

21st Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, 24-26 September 2015, organised by the EuroMemo Group and jointly hosted with the Department of Society and Globalisation and the Global Dynamics initiative at Roskilde University in Denmark

The second day of the EuroMemo Group conference (Friday, 25 September) was dedicated to key themes of EU policy within five different workshops (Workshop Programme as pdf-file).

Workshop 1 – Macroeconomic policies

Coordinator: Achim Truger

• Schmidt, Ingo / Athabasca University
  If there are alternatives, why don’t more people believe in them?
• Jespersen, Jesper / Roskilde University
  The death of Fiscal policy?
• Truger, Achim / Berlin School of Economics and Law
  New ‘growth champions’ and new ‘sick men’ in Europe: A macroeconomic perspective
• Paetz, Christoph / Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK)
  The wrong role model: The Swiss Debt Brake after one decade
• Tipaldi, Marco
  New economic policies, end of austerity and ecological transition
• Vassiliadis, Vassilis
  How to survive in jungle without tools-the Greek problem
• Erkki Laukkanen / SAK, the central organisation of Finnish trade unions
  Expected years in employment and unemployment over the life-cycle: What has changed in EU28 during the 2000s

Workshop 2 – A critical assessment of the project of European Monetary Union

Coordinator: Trevor Evans

• Appelqvist, Örjan / IDHES, Paris 1 Sorbonne
  After the Greek tragedy – what next?
• Lopes, Luís / Faculty of Economics at the University of Coimbra
  The european crises and a need for a euro reconfiguration
• Elisabeth Springler / UAS bfi Vienna, Johannes Jäger
  Heterodox scenarios in debating European Integration

Workshop 3 – Labour markets, demographic change and migration

Coordinators: Marcella Corsi and Mahmoud Messkoub

• Hartmann, Eva / Copenhagen Business School
  The emerging European solidarity: Enabling conditions and their limits
• Guarascio, Dario / Sapienza University of Rome
  Italy’s labour market reform: Jobs Act vs. Workers Act
• Giannone, Carlo / University of Sannio
  Some Economics of Immigration in the EU
• Eydoux, Anne / Centre d’études de l’emploi (Centre for employment studies) and University of Rennes 2
  Migrations and the “race to the bottom” of European labour standards and social states

Workshop 4 – Youth unemployment, precarity and poverty

Coordinator: John Grahl

• Pye, Robbie and Parker, Owen / University of Sheffield
  The Unfulfilled Promise of Social Rights in Crisis EU
• Filinis, Kyriakos / Crisis Observatory, Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy
  Redefining the youth unemployment in Europe
• Mrnjavac, Zeljko / Faculty of Economics, Croatia
  The Implementation and problems of youth guarantee model in Croatia
• Bejaković, Predrag / Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb
  Problems with personal over-indebtedness and measures for their reduction: the case of Croatia
• Stigendal, Mikael / Malmö University
  Prospects for Combatting Causes of Inequality

Workshop 5 – EU external relations and the new trade agenda

Coordinators: Ronan O’Brien and Catherine Sifakis

• Siles-Brügge, Gabriel / University of Manchester, De Ville, Ferdi / Ghent University
  The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and ‘normative’ trade conflict: a Polanyian moment in trade?
• Haar, Kenneth and Wesselius, Erik / Corporate Europe Observatory
  Cooperating to deregulate
• O’Brien, Ronan / Independent researcher, Brussels
  How international trade deals affect domestic regulation: The TTIP regulatory activities in their wider context and likely consequences
• Prausmüller, Oliver / Chamber of Labour Vienna (AK Wien), BEIGEWUM
  From GATS to TISA and TTIP: Contested state formations in the field of trade in services
• Bieler, Andreas / University of Nottingham
  Contesting ‘Free Trade’: Proposals for collective demands towards an alternative trade regime
• Werner Raza / ÖFSE Austrian Foundation for Development Research
  The Treatment of NTMs in Trade Analysis: A Critique of the Mainstream Approach and an Outline for an Alternative Methodology
• Bartl, Marija / University of Amsterdam
  Socialising into the TTIP: The Consequences for the EU Regulatory Culture
• Dellheim, Judith / Rosa Luxemburg Foundation,
  Wolf, Frieder Otto / Free University of Berlin
  On the Eastern Partnership as an strategic area of neoliberal EU policy and development

Background paper

• Filipenko, Anton / Taras Shevchenko national university of Kyiv
  Ukrainian alternative: The solidarity, national economy
• Lorant, Karoly
  Prerequisites for integration
• Perraton, Jonathan / Sheffield University
  What Happened to The Return of Keynesianism? Real and Imagined Constraints on Reflation
• Czeskleba-Dupont, Rolf / CNAS
  Subprime carbon credits should not be part of a green economy