How to Stimulate Reform of State and Economy while Preventing Social Uprising and anti-European Backlash

As the peripheral countries of the EU are becoming ever more desperate about their counterproductive austerity and reform efforts without the prospect of early solidarity from the rest of the eurozone (in the form of mutualisation of debt, investment in the south, and/or demand stimulus and higher inflation in the surplus countries), the public support for this policy is waning dramatically. The Greek elections might be a quick validation of this. The prospect of growth and solidarity might help them in seeing the light at the end of the reform tunnel, which might be necessary to keep the legitimacy and ownership of the reform programmes. But the political leaders in the northern countries seem to remain afraid that any promise of solidarity will impede rather than give an impetus to the reform process. What might free the eurozone from this paradox? How would you go about it if you were in their shoes?


Facilitators
Dr. Nikos Chrysoloras, journalist, currently managing the opinion pages of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini 
 Dr. Ferdi De Ville, assistant professor Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Science, Ghent University


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Venue
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union
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