The EU’s Strategic Mistake
The rush for critical raw materials is costing the EU its own democratic values.
EU
Von der Leyen Faces Pressure Over Serbia Visit
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet with Serbian President Vučić and Prime Minister Macut tomorrow during her visit to the Western Balkans. European political parties, media rights organizations, and Serbian citizens have called on von der Leyen to take a stand in support of those protesting against the government’s corruption and repression. Von der Leyen is visiting Serbia as part of her tour of the Western Balkans, which also includes Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.
Rio Tinto’s “Jadar” Mine in Western Serbia Placed on EU Strategic Projects List
The European Commission has designated Rio Tinto’s proposed lithium mine in Serbia’s Jadar Valley as strategically important for the European Union—a move that will spur various forms of support for the project’s implementation.
Reject Rio Tinto – protect Serbia, a call from the European Left
The party of the European Left expressed solidarity with the people of Serbia in the fight against the opening of a lithium mine in the Jadar valley. “It is imperative that we resist this destructive project,” stated the European Left.
Care workers and intermediaries from the Balkans: the precarity of female work fosters a lack of solidarity
The precarity of female care workers from the Balkan countries in the EU is revealed through the relationship with intermediaries who find their posts but also take a significant percentage of their earnings through fees. This interdependence is not only economic; it is a question of class and female solidarity in a contemporary context.
Who looks after the elderly in Germany? Care workers between former Yugoslavia and Germany
A great number of women from former Yugoslavia regularly go to Germany and other EU countries to perform care labour. In most cases, they are completely exploited. Moreover, individuals and institutions of the EU countries both create and abuse their situation.
Meeting the Left: Luka Mesec
According to Luka Mesec, coordinator of the Slovenian party Levica (the Left) and Slovenian MP, the coronavirus pandemic exposed many of the capitalist system’s shortcomings, creating opportunities for left-wing politics. The pandemic has clearly shown that it is the workers, and not the managers, who ensure the functioning of our economies, emphasizes Mesec.
Meeting the Left: Arnaldo Otegi
Arnaldo Otegi is the general coordinator of the Basque EH Bildu, which unites different sectors and parties of the left. The fourth guest of the series of talks “Meeting the Left” spoke about the revolutionary program minimum, the need for a different Europe and the need to cooperate more on the left.
Meeting the Left: Heinz Bierbaum
In an interview within the “Meeting the Left” series Heinz Bierbaum, President of the European Left Party (EL), talked about the crisis of the socio-economic system and a strategic document newly adopted by his party.
Meeting the Left: Katja Kipping
The second guest in transform!’s series “Meeting the Left” was Katja Kipping, Co-Chairperson of the party Die LINKE. The conversation largely focussed on European politics.
Meeting the Left: Catarina Martins
Catarina Martins, Coordinator for the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) from Portugal, advocates forming of a European recovery fond weighing 1.5 billion €. The fund should be financed directly by the European Central Bank, stated Martins in an interview which was a part of the “Meeting the left” series.
Too little too late: The high cost of European indolence
It was not until mid-March that EU member states reached a halfway decent agreement on action against COVID-19. The rich states of the north express a lack of interest in solidarity policies, but that’s precisely what could blow up in their faces.
Who is Who on the European Right
What is the European nationalist right, when did it emerge and why is it on a steady course of success? Joachim Becker has some answers.
Costas Lapavitsas: If the left got its act together, things would change drastically
One of the most vocal promotors of leaving the Eurozone was Costas Lapavitsas, professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Mr. Lapavitsas is a prominent critic of the European financial system, and has been working on issues related to the theory of money over many years.
Pack your stethoscope: hundreds of doctors migrating from Serbia to Germany
Pauperised Serbia pays exuberant amounts for educating doctors who end up a number in the Bureau of Labour registers or find employment in the West; affluent Germany systematically educates fewer doctors than it needs because it will always be able to recruit them from countries that “have not made it” in their transition to capitalism.