*** JACQUES GENEREUX: La déconnomie. Quand l’empire de la bêtise surpasse celui de l’argent. Editions du Seuil (25 bld. Romain-Rolland, F-75993 Paris Cedex 14. Internet: http://www.seuil.com ). 2016, 410 pp, €19.50. ISBN 978-2-02-124119-8.
Professor at Sciences Po in Paris, where he has been lecturing in economics for more than thirty-five years, Jacques Généreux dedicates this book to the memory of Bernard Maris, ‘who worked for better intelligence of the economy,’ notably as the economic conscience of the periodical Charlie Hebdo, where he lost his life during the Islamic terror attack of 7 January 2015. This no doubt explains the striking nature of the title and sub-title of this book, which is also a dazzling demonstration of the fact that its author belongs to the Club des Economistes Atterrés. The tone is clear from the very first paragraph: ‘Like in the 1930s, deregulated capitalism, financial speculation and daft policies have led to the world to an economic catastrophe that blinkered governments are doggedly turning into a political disaster,’ since it is a fact that ‘unemployment, poverty, nationalism, xenophobia and disgust at politics’ are prospering again. Clearly, this book smacks of a pamphlet. Many of the people who read it will think this good and proper.
Prof. Généreux is extremely convincing in his condemnation of ‘economists and politicians whose brains, stuffed with the ideology of the invisible hand of the market, found themselves disarmed when it came to dealing with the general deficiencies of the market’ observed from 2008 onwards. Since then, he hammers home, the world has been governed ‘by the blind, stuck in a mess of economic imbecilities,’ and who continue, more than ever, to create ‘the conditions for an impending financial catastrophe, no doubt more dramatic than the previous one.’ Initially, he explains that it is ‘la déconnomie de marché,’ in other words ‘a calamitous system that the greed of some and, even more, the weakens or ignorance of all the others, forbid us from reforming.’ He goes on to attack the absurdity of ‘financalised capitalism’ which his prevailed since the 1980s and is only of benefit to the ‘richest 10%’ and is even more damaging to the ‘interests of most entrepreneurs.’ Hence capitalism has started to undermine the bases of its own prosperity... How did we get here? Why didn’t political leaders do something to replace a clearly aberrant economic regime with another that would benefit a greater number of citizens? ‘Was this the effect of the extraordinary power of the richest, or the stupid submission of the all the others? Empire of money or empire of stupidity?’ These questions are at the heart of the book.
In this European Library, let us spend a few moments on the ‘déconnomie européenne,’ which could be loosely translated as the buggered-up European economy, which Jacques Généreux see as the pre-scheduled death of the European Union. The way he sees it, ‘the self-mutilation of political power in the eurozone is truly hallucinatory,’ given that the eurozone has constitutionalised ‘a mistaken economic doctrine.’ He also denounces, in turn, ‘the irrational mutilation of budget policy (he sees ‘a kind of expiatory sacrifice’ in the desire to punish those who, like the Greeks, ‘move away from the dogma of medium-term equilibrium’, the general interest of European peoples being ignored), the dogma of monetary policy (currency, budget and exchange rates are chained to a rigid system that ensures that ‘economic policy errors are compulsory and in practice irreversible’) and, finally, ‘constitutionalisation of a conservative economic policy’ that gives free rein to so-called ‘neoliberal’ policies by favouring the ‘lowest bidders fiscally and socially.’ The price to be paid in the eurozone is that ‘democracy is now just an institutional machinery running on empty, deprived of its prime function: and voting by electors no longer has the capacity to determine the direction of economic and social policies.’ This would unavoidably condemn the European Union to explode, because it would be nothing but a ‘crazy machine, programmed to self-destruct’ because acting in the service of Germany. The author often goes a bit far, but is he totally wrong? Certainly not, for example when he observes that amending the terms of the European Central Bank or the Stability and Growth Pact would imply negotiating a new treaty and getting it ratified in all the member states. Therefore, he says, ‘it is as if, to change the prime objective of US monetary policy, one had to renegotiate a treaty among the fifty states of the US federation!’ Why wouldn’t what would be an aberration for the one also be an aberration for the other? Michel Theys
*** THOMAS PIKETTY: Aux urnes citoyens! Chroniques 2012-2016. Editions Les liens qui libèrent (2 impasse de Conti, F-75006 Paris. Internet: http://www.editionslesliensquiliberent.fr ). 2016, 268 pp, €19.50. ISBN 979-10-209-0443-0.
This book brings together the chronicles of economist Thomas Piketty published in Libération from January 2012 to October 2015, and then in Le Monde from November 2015 to July 2016. Many of them are about the European Union, particularly the eurozone and its wanderings. Economic advisor to Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon in the recent French presidential elections, the author lectures at the Ecole d’Economie de Paris and its director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He is particularly critical of the orthodox thinking that there exists a kind of ‘economic law’ that applies in all epochs. There is nothing of the sort, he says, when observing the question of public debt.
Some have managed to get people to believe in recent years that Greeks and other southern Europeans had ‘no choice but to repay enormous budget surpluses for decades’ when Europe itself was built in the 1950s on ‘cancellation of the debts of the past, which was of particular benefit to Germany and France’, enabling them to then ‘invest in growth and in the future.’ He takes the position of a defender of the European project as long as it is allowed to democratise itself. He is virulently and stubbornly critical of the European Council and finance ministers who, usurping power, ‘constitute a machine for pitting the national interest of some against the national interests of the others.’
While a number of his criticisms are well-founded and even fully pertinent, some of the solutions he sketches out in order to build spaces of democratic deliberation leave one wary, for example when he recommends ‘the creation of a true parliamentary chamber for the eurozone composed of members of national parliaments in proportion to population and political groups.’ On the other hand, he is undoubtedly on the right path when he says that ‘it is the collective institutions that one sets up – political institutions, election rules, social and fiscal systems, public and educational infrastructure – that allow solidarity to exist or to dissipate.’ President Juncker wanted to say precisely this in his State of the Union address. No doubt he will be as ignored as Thomas Piketty by many of the member states’ leaders... (MT)
*** PANOS KAZAKOS, PANAGIOTIS LIARGOVAS, SPIROS REPOUSSIS: La dette publique de la Grèce. Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athènes. Tél.: (30-210) 3822496 – fax: 3809020 – Courriel: papazisi@otenet.gr – Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2017, 429 p., 25 €. ISBN 978-960-02-3275-2.
In this book, Panos Kazakos (emeritus professor at Athens University and research director at the Greek European Studies Centre), Panagiotis Liargovas (senior lecturer at the University of the Pelaponnese) and economist Spiros Repoussis, expert in banking and financial fraud, examine Greece’s debt since the country won independence in 1821 to the present day. This chronicle very quickly gives the impression that Greek political leaders periodically tended to consider loans – and aid for Greece – as a regular income. The authors seek the discover the reason for this. Greece has defaulted four times and after each bankruptcy, the country was excluded for a while from the money markets, which made it clear each time that debt servicing was a precondition for the granting of any new loans.
Throughout these pages, the authors show how the negotiations with the lenders are slow and repetitive. They review and analyse international controls, creative accountancy, various types of fraud by local and foreign intermediaries, some of which were taken to court for mismanagement. Then, once the system returns to normal, everything starts up again, like before... The book contains many useful explanatory tables and a wide bibliography. (AKa)
*** TASOS YANNITSIS, STAVROS ZOGRAFAKIS: Les inégalités, la pauvreté, les bouleversements économiques dans les années de crise. Editions Polis (33 Eolou Str., GR-10551 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3643382 – Fax: 3636501 – Email: info@polis-ed.gr – Internet: http://www.polis-ed.gr ). 2016, 288 pp, €18. ISBN 978-960-435-535-8.
In Greece, the impact of the crisis is now felt in all aspects of life, which leads some to want to radically turn their back on past errors and ‘do something collectively’ to start up again on the right footing. Clearly, one segment of Greek society plans to roll up its sleeves in order to make tangible improvements without falling into a utopia of any kind. For the authors of this book, it is not certain that they will succeed! Tassos Yannitsis, emeritus professor of economy at Athens University, who has been a minister on several occasion, and Prof. Stavros Zografakis of Athens Agricultural University argue that Greeks see themselves as a society founded on collective values, both national and European, but they do not have any clear idea about how to be able to construct a robust future, which often leads them to show no interest in key principles of success which, like cooperation, are the foundation of prosperous society. On the contrary, say the authors, they see the measures required to build a better future as painful, which makes them unpopular, or even viewed as immoral and destructive. Thus the authors make n in-depth analysis of what a ‘fragmented society’ reflects economically and politically, a society that demonstrates weak cohesion and a sense of absent collegiality. In this context, the approaches being sketched out in Greece for creating a social partnership cannot fail to be arduous... (AKa)
*** GAVRIIL AMITSIS: Sauvegardes emblématiques dues aux initiatives de cohésion sociale au moment des Mémorandums. La stratégie d'inclusion sociale nationale. Editions Papazisi (voir coordonnées supra). 2016, 416 pp, €26.50. ISBN 978-960-02-3263-9.
The work of a lawyer specialising in social law, who lectures in social insurance law at Athens University, the study presented in this book aims to shed light on flagship initiatives taken by the Greek government during implementation of the first two Memorandums in order to safeguard social cohesion and ensure that a social security network can continue to aid the vulnerable. These initiatives amid above all at social inclusion, firstly with a Green Paper on the National Social Integration Strategy (2013), and then with the National Social Integration Strategy (2014). The two texts introduced for the first time in Greece themes such as the welfare-state and the operational model of active integration, going beyond the traditional war on poverty. Hence three fundamental priorities were seen being pursued: a) support for welfare payments to ensure decent living standards for people on inadequate resources; b) connection with the labour market through employment promotion measures; and c) improved access to the service sector. The author shows that these strategic initiatives from the 2013-2014 period were not then validated, for want of the changes required to made an overhaul of the Greek social security system. The vestiges of an institutionally fragile state and the introduction of the third economic and budget policy plan also played their part. Consequently seven years after the launch of the Stability Mechanisms, Greece is still facing major structural problems and still has to deal with institutional gaps when it comes to implementing a network of active and sustainable inclusion for vulnerable groups. It emerges from this that social development and social cohesion in the country are in jeopardy... (AKa)
*** Revue de l’Union européenne. Editions Dalloz (80 av. de la Marne, F-92541 Montrouge cedex. Tel: (33-820) 800017 – Fax: (33-1) 41484792 – Email: ventes@dalloz.fr – Internet: http://www.dalloz-revues.fr ). April 2017, No. 607, 66 pp, €36.76. Annual subscription: €326.72 (France), €345.10 (elsewhere in the European Union).
The editorial of this issue of a French legal review is devoted to the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, with editor-in-chief Florence Chaltiel pointing out that the European Union ‘has arrived at the start of the twenty-first century at the end of a cycle without a new cycle really managing to get going.’ Ensuring that citizens take ownership of the EU is therefore a path to be followed to get out of this impasse. This issue also contains a special report on overseas territories, with articles on derogatory fiscality for remote regions, European territorial cooperation in the Indian Ocean and between Madeira, Azores and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. An expert paints the legal framework and structure of bodies that he sees emerging in the European Union since the early 2000, distinguishing and analysing in turn the regulatory agencies, executive agencies and offices. Two lawyers finally analyse Court of Justice case law on public procurement from 1 July 2015 to 3` December 2016. (MT)