A three-day international seminar designed by the NPI and organized by the transform!europe network in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation will take place from 16-18 July prior to the European Left Summer University to be held in Portaria (Pilion), Greece, this summer. The seminar is organized in the context of the “Strategic Perspectives of the Radical Left Parties in Europe” programme activities.
The seminar’s goal, under the title “EU and the Left in Times of Crisis: Left Strategy between the Symplegades of National and International Political Arenas”, is to conclude the studies conducted in the first phase of the research project “Strategic Perspectives of the Radical Left Parties in Europe”.
According to the seminar’s tentative programme, the first day will tackle the issues of: EU integration and the challenges that this process poses to the strategies of the left parties in view of the current crisis; the relation between democracy and capitalism in light of the new tasks faced by the Left in view of the power concentration at the European level which forms a novel post-democratic environment. The second day will include sessions dealing with: the crisis of political representation along with the crisis of party systems and how this creates the potential for a left transformation at the national and European level. The seminar will be concluded on the third day with a discussion on the perspectives of a common programme of the European radical left forces.
Along with the central theoretical talks given on each separate issue, all sessions will include case studies based on a common questionnaire.
Apart from members and researchers of the transform! network, participants of the seminar will include, academics whose research interests fit in with its problematique. Participants are to be announced shortly along with the final programme of the seminar.
Find the county reports for download on the left.
Programme
Monday, 16 July
09.00-09.30 Opening
Session 1: Searching for a Left Response to the Crisis: the Dialectic Tension between National and European Level
09:30-10:30
- Frank Deppe, Marburg University
- Catherine Samary, Paris Dauphine
10:30-11:30 Discussion (discussant Walter Baier, coordinator transform!europe)
11:30-11:45 Break
11:45-12:45 Country reports
- Belgium: Gregory Mauze, Cultural Association Joseph Jacquemotte
- Serbia: Vladan Jeremic, RLF Southeast Europe
- Denmark: Inger Johansen, Red-Green Alliance
12:45-13:45 Discussion
13:45-15:30 Lunch
Questions to be emphasized in the country reports:
- Faced with the European Crisis is the Left in your country favoring a national strategy along with other political forces, trade-unions and social movements at the national level? Is this national strategy related, and in what way, to a strategy for the transformation of Europe?
- Crisis has fuelled the claim that transformation and emancipation is not possible within the EU. Is this view shared by the parties of the Left in your country? What are the arguments pro and contra and what is your personal view on the matter?
Session 2: Saving Democracy in Europe: Left Parties and Movements against Austerity and Repression
15:30-16:30
- Michalis Spourdalakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
- Gabriele Michalitsch, University of Vienna
16:30-17:30 Discussion (discussant: Gabriele Kickut, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)
17:30-17:45 Break
17:45-18:45 Country reports
- Spain: Javier Navasquez, Foundation for Marxist Studies, University of Seville
- Greece: Vagia Lysikatou, Loudovikos Kotsonopoulos, Nicos Poulantzas Institute
- Czech Republic: Jiri Malek, Society for European Dialogue
18:45-19:45 Discussion
Questions to be emphasized in the country reports:
- Has the European crisis affected the feelings of the general public and of political forces in your country regarding other countries? How has the Left reacted to this development?
- Some intellectuals and parties of the Left claim that the crisis has proved that Germany and France are imposing an imperialist policy on all EU countries and especially those of the European periphery. Do the parties of the Left in your country agree with this view? What are the arguments pro and contra and what is your personal view?
Tuesday, 17 July
Session 3: Classes and Class Struggle during the Crisis: New Challenges for the European Left
09:30-10:30
- Zoe Georgiou, trade unionist
- Armando Fernández Steinko, Complutence University, Madrid
10:30-11:30 Discussion (discussant: Loudovikos Kotsonopoulos, Nicos Poulantzas Institute)
11:30-11:45 Break
11:45-12:45 Country reports
- Austria: Barbara Steiner, transform! Austria
- France: Louis Weber, Espaces Marx
- Italy: Roberto Morea, transform! Italia
12.45-13.45 Discussion
13.45-15.30 Lunch
Questions to be emphasized in the country reports:
- To what extent the current crisis modified the relations of political representation between the social classes and the party system in your country? What is the position of the Left in the new political landscape? Did it manage to broaden its social bases?
- In what way the European crisis affected the political relations between the key players of the Left (parties, trade unions, movements) in your country? I s there a shift in the relations between the Left, Social Democracy and the Greens? If yes in what direction?
- Is there an emergence of an anti-systemic sentiment in the political system of your country? If yes how is it expressed? To what extend is this sentiment fuels the far Right? Analyze the position and strategy of your party towards anti- systemic politics?
Session 4: EU: Dissolution or Authoritarian Integration? Old and New Strategies of the European Left
15:30-16:30
- Costas Douzinas, Birkbeck, University of London
- Ozlem Onaran, Westminster University
16:30-17:30 Discussion (discussant: Elizabeth Gauthier, Espaces Marx)
17:30-17:45 Break
17:45-18:45 Country reports
- Sweden: Edvin Frid, Center for Marxist Social Studies
- Germany: Erhard Crome, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
- Portugal: Jose Soero, Cultures of Labour and Socialism
18.45-19.45 Discussion
Questions to be emphasized in the country reports:
- What was the strategy of the Left parties in your country vis a vis the Maastricht Treaty and the establishment of the Eurozone?
- Has the crisis of the euro-zone affected/changed the strategy of the Left in your country regarding European integration and the EU and in what way?
Wednesday, 18 July
10:00-13:00