Seminar on Strategic Perspectives of the European Left (1)

From 12 to 13 March, transform! europe hosted a seminar in Mallorca entitled “Why the Crisis Seems to Favour the Right Rather than the Left in Europe”.

The debate, which started out with a general assessment of the political geography, followed by a number of thematic focuses and case studies on different countries such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

The recent economic crisis, among other things, have showed the serious crisis of the European Social Democracy, as well as the inability of “our” Left (with some interesting exceptions) to increase its influence in society. This can be seen not only from the fact that the agenda for facing the crisis is set by the conservative European political forces, but also by the election results for the European Parliament. Thus the questions arises with urgency how the Left in Europe can develop the capacity of becoming an effective counter-hegemonic force.