Five Progressive Views on Greece

Nat O'Connor: Queries: The European Progressive Magazine circulated five articles about the Greek crisis, all of which are relevant to Ireland.

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Vice-Chair of the European Parliament S&D grouping, Maria João Rodrigues argues for various measures to improve the European Monetary Union to make it less pro-cyclical, including properly capitalising the European Fund for Strategic Investments and a Eurozone 'public investment booster'.

Academics Stephany Griffith-Jones and Inge Kaul make the case for GDP-linked bonds to replace Greece's current debt, to give its economy room to grow. But they also suggest that other countries should raise some of their debt as GDP-linked bonds in order to better weather ups and downs in the economic cycle.

Historian Marc Lazar considers the challenges facing the radical left, as well as the challenge the radicals pose for traditional social democracy.

Political analyst and adviser Trinidad Noguera decries the all-male Greek cabinet and the seeming relegation of the rights of women to second-place.

Ernst Stetter, Sec-Gen of FEPS, rejects the rigidity of views on all sides, and echoes the call for GDP-linked bonds while also pointing to Greece's need to reduce tax evasion and manage public investment more tightly.

Dr Nat O'Connor     @natpolicy

Nat O’Connor is lecturer in social policy in UCD’s School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice and part-time policy specialist at Age Action Ireland. Previously Director of TASC, Nat also led the research team in Dublin’s Homeless Agency.

He has taught politics and social policy since 1999. He has a PhD in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin and a MA in Political Science and Social Policy from the University of Dundee. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK), a member of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and chairperson of the Irish Social Policy Association (ISPA). You can find him on LinkedIn (natoconnor) and TwitterX @natpolicy