23rd Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe

Can the EU still be saved? The implications of a multi-speed Europe

from 28-39 September 2017

The EuroMemo Group conference 2017 was jointly hosted with the Department of Geography at Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens. The conference venue was the Harokopio University in Athens, Department of Geography.

The programme was as follows

Thursday 28 September

2:30 – 3:00 Arrival and registration (outside the Ceremony Hall, New Building)

3:00 – 7:00 Plenary: The state of the Union (Ceremony Hall, New Building)

• Steffen Lehndorff (University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Work, Skills and Training): Political State of the Union
• Ann Pettifor (Prime: Policy Research in Macroeconomics): Economic State of the Union
• Maria Karamessini (Professor of Economics at Panteion University, President and Governor of the Greek Public Employment Agency): Social State of the Union
• Open discussion

8:00 Conference Dinner at ‘To Avgo tou Kokkora’ (23-25 Millerou str. & Leonidou, Avdi Square – Metaxourgio)

Friday 29 September

10:00 – 1:30 Six parallel workshops

• Workshop 1: Macroeconomic policies: debt overhang and sustainable growth & development (Ceremony Hall, New Building)
• Workshop 2: Dynamizing productive development in the EU: structural reforms or industrial policies? (Classroom 2.1, New Building)
• Workshop 3: Financial policies: Dollar hegemony and the subordination of European finance (Classroom A3, Old Building)
• Workshop 4: Inequality and social crisis (Classroom 1.2, New Building)
• Workshop 5: The EU in a fragmenting international order (Classroom A4, Old Building)
• Workshop 6: Alternative visions for socio-ecological transformation and the good life for all (Classroom A1, Old Building)

2:30 – 4:00 Plenary: Policy proposals from workshops (Ceremony Hall, New Building)

4:15 – 6:00 Special Plenary: Disintegration or Refoundation of the European Union? (Ceremony Hall, New Building)

• Marica Frangakis (Nicos Poulantzas Institute and EuroMemo Group) presentation
• John Weeks (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)
• Walter Baier (transform! europe)

Saturday 30 September

9:00 – 12:00 Planning meeting: EuroMemorandum 2018 and other activities (Ceremony Hall, New Building)

Workshops & Papers

23rd Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, from 28-30 September 2017, organised by the EuroMemo Group and jointly hosted with the Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens.

The second day of the EuroMemo Group conference (Friday, 29 September) was dedicated to key themes of EU policy within six different workshops (Workshop Programme as pdf-file).

Workshop descriptions

Workshop 1 – Macroeconomic policies: debt overhang and sustainable growth & development

Coordinators: Marica Frangakis & Achim Truger

• Robert Huterski / Nicolaus Copernicus University Torun, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management
  The Impact of the Public Debt Structure in the European Union Member Countries on the Possibility of Debt Overhang
  Presentation
• Ignacio Alvarez / Autonomous University of Madrid, Department of Economic Structure, Complutense Institute of Interna-tional Studies (ICEI) and Jorge Uxó / University of Castilla La Mancha, Department of Economic Analysis and Finance
  Functional income distribution: vector for a new growth model
• Karim Belgacem / European Academy of Diplomacy and IRIS
  The debt’s problem in France: its own particularity and the future policy of Macron toward Europe
• Jacques Mazier, Pascal Petit and Dominique Plihon / University Paris 13
  From monetary union to differentiated integration
  Presentation
• Jan Priewe / Economic Policy Institute (IMK) Hans-Böckler-Foundation
  Policy options against current account imbalances within the Monetary Union
  Presentation
• Martin Prior / Independent
  Geographic Factors in Currency Depreciation
  Graph

Workshop 2 – Dynamizing productive development in the EU: structural reforms or industrial policies?

Coordinator: Werner Raza

• Felix Syrovatka / Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen and Etienne Schneider / University of Vienna
  Economic asymmetries and political paralysis in the Eurozone – Avenues and obstacles for progressive productive reconstruction
• Petros Linardos Rulmond / Nicos Poulantzas Institute
  Reconstructing Greece and rethinking the European Industrial Policy
• Ravi Kant Tripathi / Université Paris 13
  Labour Market during Crisis: Questioning the ‘German Model’

Workshop 3 – Financial policies: Dollar hegemony and the subordination of European finance

Coordinator: John Grahl

• Gabriel Sakellaridis
  Government Debt, Repo Markets and Financial Instability in Eurozone: A Minskyan Analysis
• John Grahl / Middlesex University
  Dollarisation of the Eurozone

Workshop 4 – Inequality and social crisis

Coordinators: Mahmoud Messkoub & Jeremy Leaman

• Anne Eydoux / Centre for Employment and Labour Studies (CEET) and Lise-CNRS
  Beyond flexibility and activation: are there alternative employment and welfare policies at local, national or EU levels?
• Iganzio Masulli / University of Bologna
  Late capitalist restructuring and social inequalities
• Maria-Eleni Agoraki, Antonios Alevizos, Magdalini Eleftheroglou and Varvara Veli / Panteion University of social and politic sciences
  Social inequalities and Economic crisis. A comparative analysis of income inequalities of U.S.A. and European households

Workshop 5 – The EU in a fragmenting international order

Coordinator: Catherine Sifakis

• Heikki Patomäki / University of Helsinki, Department of Political and Economic Studies
  Four Scenarios about the Future of the European Union
• Yiannis Tolios / Marxist Space of Study and Research (ΜΑΧΩΜΕ) in Athens
  Strategy of equal cooperation as a response by peripheral members of the EU to the ‘globalization’ and ‘European integration’ process
• Carlo Giannone / University of Sannio, Benevento
  The EMU in 2017: Too Large for a New Start? A Collective Action Approach
• Catherine Sifakis / Pierre Mendès France University
  Broken United States – European Union Consensus
• Leon Podkaminer / The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
  Economic Disintegration of the EU: Probable, Though Not Unavoidable

Workshop 6 – Alternative visions for socio-ecological transformation and the good life for all

Coordinators: Marija Bartl & Ronan O’Brien

• Vedran Horvat / Institute for Political Ecology
  From better life to good life. What more we need?
• Nik de Boer / University of Amsterdam
  Financial Globalisation and the Crisis of Democratic Capitalism: Re-imagining Free Capital Movement for Socio-ecological Transformations
• Jens van ‘t Klooster / Cambridge University and Clément Fontan / Göteborg University
  Democratizing Central Bank Asset Purchases
• Ronan O’Brien / Independent researcher
  A review of various approaches to socio-ecological transformation

Background paper

• Klaus Busch, Axel Troost, Gesine Schwan, Frank Bsirske et alia
  A Europe built on solidarity is possible! Pamphlet for another European Union
• Peter Bofinger et alia
  A strategy for more investment, more growth and employment in Europe

Further information

23rd Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe, from 28-30 September 2017, organised by the EuroMemo Group and jointly hosted with the Department of Geography at Harokopio University and the Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens.

This year’s conference took place at the Department of Geography at Harokopio University. The university is based in Kallithea, Athens (address: Eleftheriou Venizelou 70, Kallithea 176 76). The University is in an area which is reasonably close to the centre of Athens. There are direct metro and bus connections from the city centre to the university buildings. The journey takes about 20-30 min. Please visit the university website for a map and directions.

Conference participants should make their own bookings. Below you can find a document with a list of recommended hotels and information on accommodation. You are strongly advised to book early.

Please note that there will be a conference fee collected at the venue to cover the cost of the conference (30 Euro / 10 Euro for students / 80 Euro for participants with institutional support).

Press commentaries

• Quo Vadis Europa? | Steffen Lehndorff on Germany’s post-election political landscape and the need for EU-level alliances to achieve policy alternatives (English | Greek)
• Δεν νομίζω ότι το ευρώ είναι ένα βιώσιμο νόμισμα: Interview with Ann Pettifor (in Greek)