Activities 2012 Democratising Europe

 EU Crisis – a Crisis of democracy as Europe’s financial crisis continues, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the international monetary fund (IMF) have responded by promoting an undemocratic politics of austerity, which has led to rocketing unemployment and undermined social welfare.

TNI is supporting pan- European networks opposing austerity by facilitating seminars and conferences to understand what is happening, mobilising concerned economists to serve as a resource, and publishing accessible materials for activists.

TNI published the first comprehensive critique of the newly-implemented ‘six-pack’ of rules on economic governance put out by the European Commission, Governing the EU: Critical Perspectives and Alternative Solutions to the Eurozone Crisis . It has been downloaded 900 times and been widely used by activists as a reference. TNI also updated its EU Crisis Pocket Guide , downloaded 4,000 times and now available in English, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. A series of video interviews with progressive experts on the EU crisis was also produced.

Early in the year, TNI , Corporate Europe Observatory and Attac Europe co-organised a seminar involving activists and progressive economists from 13 European countries. In May, with the support of the European public services union, TNI and Corporate Europe Observatory followed up by organising a major conference in Brussels. The conference was attended by 300 people from across Europe, who went on to form a new network.

The network, including TNI , was active in the Firenze 10+10 event, convened in Florence to mark the 10th anniversary of the European  social forum. TNI president Susan George and TNI fellow Hilary Wainwright played an important role in building bridges between the labour movement and other social movements active on the EU crisis, as well as articulating in the media the critiques and propositions being put forward by these movements.