There is nothing mysterious about public budgets: it's our money! Project summary Imagine a country where citizens and public bodies come together to solve the most important issues they face; and allocate public funds accordingly. Where the decision-making process is transparent and accountable, and where you have a real say in the policies and services that shape your life. In Hungary, the budget process, that distributes almost half of the national income, operates against these democratic principles. The latest Open Budget Survey shows that Hungary is far behind other countries of the CEE region in almost all aspects when it comes to transparency and participation related to the national budget. By Miklós Merényi
The Battle for Modernity Today’s central line of conflict runs between open societies and various forms of Identitarian radicalism. The challenge we face is to reconcile rapid changes in a globalized modern age with our need to belong and our need for security. By Ralf Fücks
The public-private road to bankruptcy? On 9 December 2011 all 17 members of the eurozone and countries aspiring to join agreed on a new EU treaty to put strict caps on government spending and borrowing. This intention may, for many different reasons, end up to be yet another paper tiger. One of them may be that EU authorities fail to address a major hole in the system. The hole´s name is public-private partnerships (PPP). Another is Commission´s culture of feeding wasteful projects, no questions asked. In its February 2004 decision on deficit and debt, the Eurostat recommends that “the assets involved in a public-private partnership should be classified as non-government assets, and therefore recorded off balance sheet for government, if both of the following conditions are met: 1. the private partner bears the construction risk, and 2. the private partner bears at least one of either availability or demand risk.”
Ways out of the Crisis in Europe The global economic and financial crisis, already a reality of everyday political life, has also become the main topic of the elections for the European Parliament – here in the Czech Republic as well. The same voices who have been warning that intensified European integration threatens the national sovereignty of the Member States – leading Czech politicians among them in particular – are now demanding solidarity and a coherent, consistent EU in relation to the crisis
G20 in London. The most anticipated summit of recent years. The much anticipated G20 Summit with the heading “Stability, Growth, Jobs” went ahead without any serious complications. Whether it can be called a successful summit is debatable, but what is certain is that it was not, as many predicted, unsuccessful.
Dealing with the Financial and Climate Crises The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has, together with other factors, plunged the world into financial chaos. Bank lending has dropped to a minimum as financial institutions scramble to procure desperately needed liquidity. Western governments have swiftly responded, turning taxpayers’ monies into ‘rescue packages’ that amount to several hundred billion euros.
Which way out of the food crisis? - Review of the conference “The global food crisis, one year on. How to achieve food security.” On 4 March 2009, Glopolis and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung convened a conference entitled “The global food crisis, one year on. How to achieve food security.” The program was focused particularly on those structural causes of the food crisis related to the areas of agriculture and trade. Leading experts from the Czech Republic and abroad gave their views of the current global food situation, the quality of agricultural policies, and the operations of the global trade in agricultural commodities. Those participating included Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Daniel de la Torre Ugarte of the Institute for the Analysis of Agricultural Policy from the University of Tennessee, Mamadou Cissokho of the Union of West African Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations, and many others.
Grand plans, money and falls – seeking values and answers in the financial crisis The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU comes at a watershed period. Europe and the world are being shaken by a global crisis. Many people agree, however, that the watershed concerns more than just the economic crisis. Every crisis is an opportunity for reflection and change. The current global financial crisis indicates that after 25 years a change in political thinking is once again impending. Coming into play are new forms of economics and politics, lifestyle and international order.
Make a Virtue of Necessity Whereas globalisation during the past 20 years has been a powerful engine of growth, we now experience the downside of the worldwide interlacing of the markets: a global recession. In Europe, North America and Japan - still the centres of world economy - economic output shrinks and in the new booming economies of Asia and Latin America at least the growth rates are shrinking. Europe's economy is by no means separated from the US-economy. This became clear already during the financial crisis that spread quickly from Wall Street to the European banking system. Also China needs the support of the world economy since its growth has been mainly driven by exports to the USA and its gigantic trade surplus has been invested in US government bonds. The same applies for the Indian software industry and the countries depending upon the export of resources - their incomes dropped to rock bottom quickly.