Łukasz Moll: The 'Old Federalism' is Retreating

Do we really want more Europe, integration and solidarity? Or should we perhaps first ask exactly what ‘more Europe, integration and solidarity’ should look like? The results of the European elections in Poland show that ‘old federalism’ is retreating. - Łukasz Moll in the Green European Journal.

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Europe from Below

Europe from Below is a conference co-organized by the Polish Greens, the Polish Teachers' Union and the National Union of Nurses and Midwives in Warsaw, 7th September 2013.

Programme in English

11.00-11.30 Opening of the Congress and welcome speeches

11.30-13.00 Europe after the Fiscal Compact

In which direction is the European Union heading to? Is there a chance to build Europe oriented to the needs of its citizens, rather than banks and financial markets?

Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA MEP), Agnieszka Grzybek (Co-leader of the Polish Greens), Łukasz Moll (Greens, moderator), Leokadia Oręziak (Warsaw School of Economics)

13.00-13.30 - Lunch

13.30-15.00 - Education - a common good

All over Europe, austerity policies include cuts in education. Will education survive the present crisis? What reforms can we, and what reforms should we demand in response to the neoliberal policies?

Sławomir Broniarz (President of the Polish Teachers' Union), Elżbieta Gajek (Professor at the University of Warsaw), Danuta Kuroń (founder of the Open University in Teremiski), Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA MEP), Dorota Obidniak (Polish Teachers' Union, moderator)

15:00 - 15:15 - Coffee break

15.15-16.45 - We are all patients

There is a strengthening pression to privatize health care and limit access to health services, not only in countries affected by austerity. What are the consequences of such policies and how can we oppose it? What sort of health care harmonization should we demand on the EU level?

Kinga Dunin ("Political Critique", Medical University of Warsaw, moderator), Ska Keller (Greens/EFA MEP), Adam Ostolski (Co-leader of the Polish Greens), Lilianna Piotrowska (National Union of Nurses and Midwives)

16.45-17:00 - Coffee break

17:00-18.30 - Internet and digital citizenship

ACTA is down, but new threats to the freedom and privacy on the Internet are looming large. Negotiations on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership may bring about laws similar to those in the ACTA. The PRISM scandal revealed the extent to which citizens of Europe are already invigilated. How to oppose these tendencies and build a world where our digital rights would be safeguarded?

Michel Bauwens (P2P Foundation), Józef Halbersztadt (Internet Society Polska), Bartłomiej Kozek ("Green News", moderator), Radosław Pietroń (Polish Pirate Party), Eleanor Saitta (Open Internet Tools Project, Geeks Without Bounds)

18.30-18.45 - Closing of the Congress

Adam Ostolski: The crisis of European integration and social struggles

"The crisis of European integration and social struggles" - my lecture on transnational political education delivered at a conference of teachers' unions in Berlin, December 2012 - appeared in the publication "Trade union education for solidarity in Europe" prepared by IG Metall.

Let's play for a better Europe!

We are joining the European Union in order to change it and have influence on the standards of living in the future common Europe.

Green Manifesto, 2003

LET’S PLAY FOR A BETTER EUROPE

When we were campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum on Poland’s accession into the European Union, we underlined that we were wanted to join the EU in order to help enact change. . We stressed that EU membership was first of all an opportunity to ensure Poland's sustainable development in its social, ecological and economic aspects. That it would be a chance for us to ensure social justice and solidarity, better protection of women’s rights and equal opportunities for women and men and to respect cultural diversity and the rights of minorities.

In 2009, when the first symptoms of the financial and economic crisis struck Europe, we stated in our European Manifesto that the European Union needed a change. Today Europe is suffering from multiple crises at the institutional level which is closely linked with a democractic deficit in the EU and rooted in the uncertainty and fear felt by many people due to thethe lack of social, economic and ecological security. It leads to increasing nationalistic and xenophobic attitudes in the European countries and hostility towards strangers and migrants. Neoliberal policies implemented in the recent years have made the dream of building a Europe free from poverty a distant one. Instead of a social union, we only have a monetary union. Instead of a democratic union, we have a technocratic entity which becomes less and less understandable for ordinary citizens who are losing their faith in the sense of the European project.

The EU needs a change! The problems which have been arising in the European countries – such as 30% level of poverty in the countries struck by the crisis, 50% unemployment among young people and the dismantling of social security – will not be solved by a new financial architecture of the European Union as embodied in the fiscal compact. Monetary policy narrowly focused on controlling inflation and fiscal discipline makes it impossible to implement anti-cyclical policies that would give a chance to create new green jobs and make sustainable investments.

Despite the lofty ideals of European integration, the EU became a battlefield of national interests which we could observe at the last EU Brussels Summit when the future EU budget for 2014-2020 was negotiated. Poland is unfortunately a discreditable example. Despite the social interest and common good, the Polish government has been blocking ambitious EU climate policies which could counteract climate change caused by the irrational exploitation of human behavior. The Crisis related to climate change is a reverse of the economic crisis. If we do not transform our economies from high- into low-carbon economies so troubles will only increase.

The proposed solution are policies combining economic security with social and ecological security, alongside a democratization of the European Union.

We do believe that a different Europe is possible – open and strong, founded on social and ecological solidarity. We do believe that sustainable development of Europe without crises from which everyone can benefit is possible. It must be based on the shift from the philosophy of growth based on the rapacious exploitation of natural and human resources to a philosophy of sustainable development. This aim can be achieved due to the ecological transformation of the economy.

We want Europe for ants and not for anteaters which is rooted in a vision of the following ten rules:

1. The foundation of sustainable development is based upon four freedoms stated in the Atlantic Charter: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom from fear and freedom from want. A united Europe must embody these freedoms and guard them.
   
   
2. Deeper integration can be achieved not by writing a new treaty, but by rebuilding citizenship in all its aspects: reclaiming civic, political and social citizenship. European institutions may not be less democratic than the institutions created in the nation states during the 20^h century. Social citizenship needs to be defined at the European level – all Europeans shall exercise the same social rights.
   
   
3. We shall be united not only by the memory of World War II, but we shall also be aware of challenges related to the climate crisis. Climate federalism means energetic solidarity, joint investments in the ecological transformation of the economy, independence from economic growth. The countries which are dependent mostly on carbon and may have difficulties shifting rapidly to a low-carbon economy shall be especially supported.
   
   
4. Europe needs a more solid budget based on truly European taxes. The EU budget shall need to constitute 10-20% of EU GDP if we want to ensure EU stability and an adequate level of redistribution between different regions. It shall be spent on: a) ensuring all Europeans a minimum of social rights, b) research, especially searching for new medicines and developing renewable technologies, c) just transition towards low-carbon economy.
   
   
5. United Europe needs a fundamental reform of the financial sector. The financial sector must serve the real economy, and not vice versa; and the economy must serve human needs, and not vice versa. In the countries suffering from growing public debt an audit shall be conducted by the citizens or public debt shall be cancelled. The European Central Bank shall be reformed: members of trade unions and environmental experts shall be a part of the council deciding on monetary policy. Keeping low inflation at any price cannot be the only goal of the European Central Bank. It shall take care of “economic justice, full employment and social security for all European citizens” (“10 ATTAC’s Rules for Democratic and Social Constitution”).
   
   
6. Europe can be a continent of many currencies. There is a place not only for euro but also for local, regional and national currencies. We must free our imagination! Democracy, diversity and subsidiarity shall be taken into consideration while designing monetary system. Diversity makes the system more resilient. Subsidiarity favors democracy. Functions which are designed for a local currency cannot be imposed on a national currency and functions which are designed for a national currency cannot be imposed on the euro. A policy which helps to create currencies by local communities at the grassroot level shall be implemented. EU member states shall have a choice about whether they would like to keep their own national currency (or to bring it back) or adopt the euro as their basic currency. Separate nstitutions for the eurozone shall not be build except for those which are necessary from a purely technical point of view.
   
   
7. A common economic zone in Europe shall favor localization of production and exchange. Europe shall not favor either social or ecological dumping or cthe ommodification of public services, but it shall create instruments which help to improve living standards.
   
   
8. Freedom of speech means also open access to culture, open sources, wide and non-restricted access to Internet and patent laws which favor the common good and not the interests of big corporations.
   
   
9. Europe shall support food sovereignty in the respective countries, regions and local communities. Instead of extensive agriculture we shall support smaller and more ecological farms. Europe shall be a continent free from GMO. The Common Agricultural Policy shall be reformed according to the proposal made by the European Movement for Food Sovereignty Nyéléni.
   
   
10. Europe cannot close itself to migrants especially those who leave their countries in order to avoid persecutions. In accordance with the principles stated forth in the Atlantic Charter, Europe shall support fair trade instead of “free trade” in international negotiations.

Manifesto adopted at the 7th Congress of the Green Party, co-sponsored by Agnieszka Grzybek and Adam Ostolski.

Bartłomiej Kozek on the precariat's world

While Poland presents itself to the outside world as a country untouched by the economic crisis, the reality is far different for an entire generation of Polish people. Rather than face up to the structural difficulties in the job market, the Government ignores the problem and remains committed to the doctrines of the neoliberal model.

- writes Bartłomiej Kozek in the "Green European Journal", vol. 4.

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What future for Europe?

My essay "Pressing juice out of the Brussels cabbage - Poland and the European Union" appeared this week in the dossier "Europe – the final countdown or resurrection time?" on the website of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung office in Brussels.

Advocates of political federalism suggest that the major problem is the old-fashioned attachment to nation-states defending their dubious sovereignty, which, however, is a misperception. Nation-states and European institutions are playing the same game (of austerity), i.e. no transfer of power between these two „levels‟ is actually supposed to change anything. By focusing on nation-states, advocates of political federalism evade the real issues such as the shifting balance of forces between capital and labour, the internal trade imbalances and the dismantling of social security nets in many European countries brought about by austerity. In the present situation, a political federation would only further empower European leaders and technocrats who already proved incapable of creating a broader and bolder vision.
[...]
[A] way to create a more perfect union would be federalism, but not a purely political one. We need to put first things first. And the most important challenge is not a transfer of power, but the reclaiming of citizenship. In recent years, many Europeans saw their social citizenship diminished. It must not be so. If the Union is to survive, it must protect and enhance social rights already gained by people in the framework of nation-states, not to destroy them. A genuine social and economic federalism must start with another „transfer‟: the definition of social citizenship on the European level. What rights and entitlements should every European citizen enjoy? What level of social security is the Union obliged to deliver?
When we begin with citizenship, the rest will follow.

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Adam Ostolski

Gender policy or gender politics?

Five years down the road of EU enlargement, the dominant mood is one of disappointment. Is this simply a crisis of leadership (some have even begun speaking of a backlash) in the European Union? Or are we perhaps dealing with a broader phenomenon sometimes referred to as "gender fatigue"? What may be at stake here is the exhaustion of a certain strategy of pushing for women’s rights – a strategy whose present embodiment is in the "gender mainstreaming" policy. We might also ask whether we are facing three separate challenges here, or three aspects of the same impasse – in European political institutions, in social attitudes, and inside women’s organization? If the backlash in the EU, gender fatigue in the workplace and disaffection with gender mainstreaming within the women’s movement are three separate independent phenomena, then the recipe for our problems would be to continue doing what we have done all along, only more effectively. If, however, we are dealing with various aspects of a single crisis, then we need to ask about its root causes.

In the article The European Union, Gender Politics and Social Change in a collection Gender in the EU (pp. 30-32) published by the Heinrich Bőll Stiftung, I am trying to trace the consequences of the replacing of feminist politics with "gender policy". What is the true meaning of the recent exchange of politics for policy? What happens, when we leave behind struggle for change, and try to negotiate the administration of change instead? Will we be able to restore the momentum of social movements, and their utopian power? These questions are pertinent not only for feminist struggle, but for the environmental and other struggles as well.

Adam Ostolski

Free to care

I have just read my previous posts and I realized that I may sound a bit morose. Actually, I am not pessimistic at all. There are some signs of hope around, and especially within the Greens.

Oddly enough, the Green Party came out of these elections internally strengthened. The coalition was by no means a dream team, and especially the Liberals were dragging us all down most of the time. So we decided as Greens to go on with a campaign of our own. We campaigned against Barroso and for the "European dream." This helped us to take a more critical stance on European policies. When we were preparing for the campaign, we had to define for what sort of Europe we stand.

We found it is all about four basic liberties: freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. It was on behalf of those freedoms that the Allies combatted Fascism in World War II. Of course, we live in a different world now than we did 60 years ago. Nowadays, freedom of expression would be meaningless without the right to free internet, for example, and freedom from fear implies strong protection from social dumping and fighting against climate change, etc. etc. That is why we need Green politics, to redefine what all these freedoms actually mean today.

Next Autumn we are going to have municipal & presidential elections. We have been already thinking how do these freedoms translate into local policies.

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On Friday, we had surprise guests in our Warsaw office: José Antonio Vergara from Chile and Mireille Grosjean form Switzerland, two Green comrades who came to Poland for the Universala Kongreso de Esperanto in Białystok. It is amazing how close is the relationship between Green ideals and Esperanto, as a language build aroud the idea of peace and equality of people regardless of their nationality. And on the principle of hope, essential to any progressive politics.

I am deeply honoured to get acquainted with José Antonio, who was an activist of the opposition under the Pinochet regime. I imagine how much personal courage it required. And I admire that he continues to struggle now for what he struggled then. It is another sort of courage, that we -- Greens, Socialists, Esperantists etc. -- need in our postpolitical era: the courage to care.

Adam Ostolski