Press Releases

A European policy brief on development options for peripheral countries - press release in English and German

The consolidation strategies implemented in Greece, Spain and Portugal seem to have failed. Four years after the financial crisis, these countries run budget deficits that average six per cent of GDP. Public debt has risen from 75 to 118 per cent. Growth rates have turned negative and unemployment rates – in particular among the young - are soaring. This calls for an urgent strategy shift.

Download press release 2012-12-12
Download policy brief no. 2

A European policy brief on governance reforms to solve the crisis and beyond - press release in English and German

A temporary, but extensive debt redemption fund; the possibility for the European Stability Mechanism to recapitalise banks; higher and binding priority for growth and employment in the use of EUfunds and national budgets; a regime of automatic transfers such as a Eurozone-wide unemployment insurance; a European “Social Pact” to compensate for the restrictive bias of current governance: These are some of the policy recommendations developed in a policy brief co-written by the London-based think tank Policy Network and the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO).

Download press release 2012-11-09
Download policy brief no. 1

A European research consortium is working on the analytical foundations for a socio-ecological transition - press release in English

Europe needs a new strategy beyond fiscal austerity, high unemployment and strained biophysical limits. A European consortium is laying the analytical foundations for such a strategy with a research project entitled WWWforEurope – Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe.

Download press release 2012-06-29