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.”
Croatia in the EU – a concerned celebration It is no exaggeration to state that no other country had such a difficult, almost tragic trajectory to EU membership as Croatia’s. As the country approached full membership, the EU was in the midst of a deep political and economic crisis. The revival of nationalism and Europe-wide protests against the neo-liberal reformist agenda and financialisation from different angles cast doubt on the shape of the future European community.
The euro crisis and Germany’s role through Czech perspective The “nation-state-based” current in Czech politics views German leadership in the EU as problematic and potentially unacceptable. A minority was accusing Germany of hegemony and dictates even before the euro crisis. In 2010, Václav Klaus stated that “Germany [had] achieved through peaceful means the clear European hegemony which it had unsuccessfully sought in two world wars”.
"Enfant terrible" of the Eurozone - Why did Slovakia refuse to bail out Greece? Shortly after a new ruling coalition formed Slovakia’s new center-right government, a small shock wave rolled through Europe. First the Slovak government and then parliament voted to withhold Slovakia’s share of a European bailout loan for Greece’s embattled economy. Not that Slovakia’s minute share of the package would mean a lot for the eurozone – the decision’s importance lay in its symbolism and, therefore, in politics.
Czech EU Presidency – a Missed Opportunity When evaluating the Czech EU presidency, the first question we need to deal with is what we might expect from a successful presidency. According to most of the academic literature in the field, the country holding the presidency is expected to act as an honest broker, and thus as a country interested in promoting the interests of the EU, not solely its own interests.
The Czech EU-Presidency - A Polish Perspective The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU has, since the very beginning, attracted negative comments, especially in the “old” member states. A “new” rather small member state, which has not yet ratified the Lisbon Treaty, was under close scrutiny of the more experienced and influential partners in the Community. The deepening financial crisis and the volatile situation on the European stage as well as the new American administration getting into power, all that suggested that the time of the Czech Presidency would be full of new challenges.
European Elections in Hungary: New green party achieves unexpected success, but so does the radical right Barely three months after its official formation Hungary’s new green party, LMP (Lehet Más a Politika / Politics Can Be Different) has managed to entrench itself on the country’s political map. Standing in coalition with the small Humanist Party, LMP obtained 2.6 % of the votes, coming in fifth place, well before the liberals, who have reached an historic low and may well disappear from the political landscape.
The results of the European Elections From 4 – 7 June, EU citizens were called to the polls to elect their European Parliamentary members for the next five years. The results of the Greens/European Free Alliance club at the EP are more than impressive, but also alarming, given that the expectedly low voter turnout was only 43.09 %
Unfortunately, no EP mandate for the Czech Greens The Czech Greens (Strana zelených, SZ) were not counting on such a poor result in the recent EP elections. SZ won just 2.06 % of the vote and ended up in ninth place.
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