At 03:18 AM 30/05/2005, Peter Kriesler wrote:
>Trond, I do not understand how you can say that the left outside Europe
>says that. As far as I can tell, they (we) argue that the economics
>underlying the EMU should be rejected. It is clearly based on a view of
>the efficacy of markets, the primacy of monetary policy, and the impotence
>of government. To have as the only European wide macro policy monetary
>policy run by an independent central bank whose only charter is anti
>inflation; to have no mention at any serious level, that unemployment,
>uneven development etc. are macroeconomic problems needing some sort of
>central fiscal authority to offset the European Central Bank, and no
>debate about widening the Central Bank's charter beyond inflation. It is
>this, monetarist, vision of Europe that the left must reject.
>
PETER,
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, BUT IMHO SO IS TROND!! MANY ON THE
LEFT, PARTICULARLY HERE IN CANADA AND THE U.S., DO OFTEN PAINT A ROSY
PICTURE OF EUROPE AS A PROGRESSIVE FORCE IN THE WORLD, WITH BROADER-BASED
SOCIAL PROGRAMS, ETC. INDEED, I HAVE OFTEN HEARD COLLEAGUES SAY: "IF ONLY
WE COULD DO WHAT THE EUROPEANS HAVE DONE IN ESTABLISHING PROGRESSIVE SOCIAL
PROGRAMS." FOR INSTANCE, AT THE TRADE UNION COLLEGE WHERE I HAVE BEEN
TEACHING OVER THE LAST THREE WEEKS, WE HAD A GUEST SPEAKER FROM A
PROGRESSIVE THINK-TANK HERE IN OTTAWA WHO SPOKE EXACTLY IN THOSE TERMS
ABOUT EUROPE. IN REALITY, THIS VIEW IS HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE, AND IT IS
CERTAINLY NOT SUBSTANTIATED BY THE STAUNCH NEO-CONSERVATIVE POLICY
LANDSCAPE THAT CONSTITUTES THE NEW EUROPE. THE "NO" VOTE IN FRANCE DOES GO
A LONG WAY IN DISPELLING THIS. ON THE OTHER HAND, AS MY COLLEAGUE, MARC
LAVOIE (WHO JUST GOT BACK FROM FRANCE ON THE WEEKEND), EXPLAINED TO ME,
SOME ON THE LEFT THERE WHO DID VOTE "YES" SAW THE NEW CONSTITUTION AS BEING
A LESSER OF TWO EVILS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE FALL BACK (i.e. THE MAASTRICHT
TREATY AND ALL THAT) WHICH THE NEW CONSTITUTION WAS IN PART SUPPOSED TO
REPLACE. IN ANY CASE, IT IS A MOST INTERESTING POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, AND
SEEMS TO HAVE THROWN MOST OF THE FRENCH POLITICAL CLASS IN A STATE OF
DISARRAY!
ADMITTEDLY, THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE IJPE ON THE EMU TO WHICH YOU AND
JOSEPH CONTRIBUTED WILL CERTAINLY BE COMING OUT AT AN IDEAL TIME!
BEST,
MARIO
Mario SECCARECCIA
Full Professor ~ Professeur titulaire
Department of Economics ~ Département de science économique
University of Ottawa ~ Université d'Ottawa
P.O. Box 450, Station A ~ C.P. 450, Succursale A
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada (K1N 6N5)
E-mail ~ Cour. él.: <Mario.Seccareccia_at_uottawa.ca>
Tel. ~ Tél.: (613) 562-5800 ext. ~ poste 1691
Fax ~ Téléc.: (613) 562-5999
http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~robinson/Seccareccia/
http://myprofile.cos.com/seccarem75
http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/eco/eng/pers.asp
http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/eco/fra/pers.asp
http://www.mesharpe.com/journal_info/ijp.htm
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Received on 30-05-05
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