Out of control: EU incapable to find a reasonable solution for the Greek crisis
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- Written by Peter Wahl
- Category: Articles
When this text was finished (morning of 29th of June) nobody knew, how the confrontation
between Greece and the other 17 countries of the Euro-group would end. Everything
is possible. The crisis has reached such a precipitating dynamics, that nobody is able to
fully control the process. There might still come a last minute muddling through compromise.
The fact that Obama has called Merkel on Sunday the 29th of June indicates, that
there is pressure from Washington, where they want to keep Greece in the Euro for geopolitical
reasons. But there might also be an insolvency and a subsequent Grexit either
by accident or by intention.
Independently from how the drama will continue, the damage is already huge and irreversible.
For more articles on EU crisis: see Social Europe Journal
Read more: Out of control: EU incapable to find a reasonable solution for the Greek crisis
Democracy on the retreat in almost half of UN Member States
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- Written by Thalif Deen / IPS
- Category: Articles
Democracy is on the retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the U.N.’s 193 member states, according to a new report released here.
The two regions of “highest concern” for defenders of civic space are Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, which between them account for over half of the countries counted.
"Legitimate civil society activities are worryingly under threat in a huge number of countries in the global North and South, democratic and authoritarian, on all continents." -- Dr. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Read more: Democracy on the retreat in almost half of UN Member States
The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries
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- Written by Claire Provost and Matt Kennard / The Guardian
- Category: Articles
Luis Parada’s office is just four blocks from the White House, in the heart of K Street, Washington’s lobbying row – a stretch of steel and glass buildings once dubbed the “road to riches”, when influence-peddling became an American growth industry. Parada, a soft-spoken 55-year-old from El Salvador, is one of a handful of lawyers in the world who specialise in defending sovereign states against lawsuits lodged by multinational corporations. He is the lawyer for the defence in an obscure but increasingly powerful field of international law – where foreign investors can sue governments in a network of tribunals for billions of dollars.
Read more: The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries
10 Reasons Why an Intergovernmental UN Tax Body Will Benefit Everyone
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- Written by Social Watch
- Category: Articles
During the 3rd drafting session to formulate an outcome document for the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, a coalition of 30 NGOs from around the globe is urging governments to pave the way for setting up an intergovernmental body on tax cooperation with universal membership under the roof of the United Nations. To ‘sweeten the deal’ for delegates, and to strengthen their resolve, negotiators received a little gift of chocolate, which came right in time just after lunch. Of course, arguments were also provided for why the world needs a new institution for a truly global tax governance.
Read more: 10 Reasons Why an Intergovernmental UN Tax Body Will Benefit Everyone
ILO adopts historic recommendation on informal labour
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- Written by ILO
- Category: Articles
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted a new international labour standard that is expected to help hundreds of millions of workers and economic units move out of informality and into the formal economy.
More than half of the world’s workforce is estimated to be trapped in the informal economy, which is marked by the denial of rights at work, the absence of sufficient opportunities for quality employment, inadequate social protection, a lack of social dialogue and low productivity, all of which constitutes a significant obstacle to the development of sustainable enterprises.
The new Recommendation acknowledges that most people enter the informal economy not by choice but due to a lack of opportunities in the formal economy and an absence of any other means of livelihood.
The world's poorest need help, not bickering, from wealthy democracies
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- Written by Michael Elliott
- Category: Articles
The most important international negotiations of which you’ve never heard are in trouble. They aren’t about Iran’s nuclear program or trans-Pacific trade: they’re about ending extreme poverty and saving hundreds of millions of lives in the next fifteen years.
In New York, talks aimed at agreeing how to finance the future of international development have hit gridlock. Less than a month before a critical summit on the topic in Addis Ababa, the states of the United Nations, rich and poor alike, should be raising their game, setting ambitious plans to improve the lives of millions of people currently denied basic services like health care or education. Instead, there’s a standoff over who is responsible for delivering a new deal, and a general refusal by governments to put their money where their mouth is and sign up to meaningful targets.
Read more: The world's poorest need help, not bickering, from wealthy democracies
Rooting out Tax Dodgers who Rob Nations
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- Written by John Stremlau
- Category: Articles
NO ONE likes paying taxes and many are quick to criticise elected officials for how they spend our money, especially if evidence suggests flagrant waste and fraud.
Public demands for greater transparency and accountability in how governments use taxpayer money are accelerating, not only in SA and other democracies but countries still autocratic in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as citizens gain access to IT and social networks.
Far less evident are the complementary demands from taxpayers and governments for companies and extremely rich individuals who avoid vast amounts of badly needed lawful taxation every year.
Two recent events in Johannesburg may be harbingers of a growing awareness that the tax-avoidance tactics of the rich and powerful could face rising public demands for reducing extreme inequalities by greater transparency in monitoring and enforcing tax policies.
Ashamed of being European ...
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- Written by Francine Mestrum
- Category: Articles
After five years of austerity policies imposed by the Troika (European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank) the Greeks voted for a government trying to make an end to the hardships. In the past years Greek GDP has shrunk by 20 %, pensions have been reduced, VAT has increased, 25 to 30 % of people are jobless, health services have been dismantled, many people lost their homes and their businesses. Suicides are soaring. There is a real humanitarian crisis. All the institutions know that imposing austerity on a country in recession can only worsen the recession. It can never bring a solution.
World Wealth Report 2015
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- Written by Capgemini
- Category: Articles
Wealthy people's assets only grew modestly in 2014 ... 7,2 %
Read and look at the report; learn everything on the demands for 'social impact' of mainly young dollar millionaires
Global Citizenship at centre of post-2015 Development Agenda?
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- Written by Thalif Deen / IPS
- Category: Articles
When Denmark hosted the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) in March 1995, one of the conclusions of that international gathering in Copenhagen was to create a new social contract with “people at the centre of development.”
But notwithstanding the shortcomings in its implementation over the last 20 years, the United Nations is now pursuing an identical goal with a new political twist: “global citizenship.”
Read more: Global Citizenship at centre of post-2015 Development Agenda?
Greece and debt bondage
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- Written by Philippe Le Grain
- Category: Articles
Reform — Greece sorely needs it. Cash — the government is running desperately short of it. So it is time for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to do what’s best for Greece and accept its creditors’ reform demands in exchange for much-needed cash. That is how the Greek situation is usually framed. It is utterly misleading.
Imagine you’re in prison for not being able to pay your debts. (You’re right, it’s almost unthinkable — civilized societies no longer lock up bankrupt individuals. But bear with me.) After five years of misery, you lead a rebellion, take control of the prison, and demand your release. The jailers respond by cutting off your water supply. Should you back down and return to your cell, perhaps negotiating for slightly less unpleasant conditions, in order to obtain a little liquidity? Or should you keep fighting to be free? That, in essence, is what the standoff between an insolvent Greece and its eurozone creditors is really about.
