Crisis in the Eurozone: Between Austerity and Default

Abstract

Exactly five years ago the French bank BNP suspended its sub-prime mortgage funds in the US because of "an evaporation of liquidity". The greatest economic crisis since the 1930s had begun, leading to the Great Recession of 2008-9 and now the Long Depression. The crisis has been a defining event for Europe: it has forced through geopolitical change by turning the Eurozone into a Germany-led project and it has created enormous social change in favour of capital and against labour. But, it has also exposed the beast and given lie to the European ideals of partnership, equality and social justice. However, while it is still too early to accurately predict how the current crisis will play out, what looks increasingly certain is that it will leave behind at least one casualty: the so-called "European Project" of European integration the core of which is the euro. Considering, as Stathis Kouvelakis argues, that this project has been the only one of any real importance, consciously designed by the ruling class, it becomes clear that we are "witnessing a turning point of significance"