Schedule European Summer University 2022

Corporate lobby groups are demanding drastic new EU powers to ”complete the internal market.” This could mean yet another EU push for deregulation and privatisation, and new neoliberal obstacles for social justice initiatives and a radical ecological transition. How can social movements move from fighting defensive battles and move into the offensive in order to reclaim democratic space and protect public services in Europe?

Under the slogan of "completing the internal market," the European Commission is constantly trying to extend internal market rules to all areas of society while at the same time tightening their enforcement. The logical endpoint would be a Europe in which even water supply, health care and education would be subject to privatisation and corporate expansion. But the existing system for enforcing the EU's internal market also creates major obstacles for cities, regions and governments that want to accelerate environmental change and protect local communities. The governance of the internal market is not only too weak, but also too rigid and gives too much power to corporations.

In this workshop we will discuss new threats and what we can learn from previous Europe-wide campaigns. Most importantly, we will discuss how we can move from defensive struggles to offensive strategies to reclaim democratic spaces and decisively protect public services. Speakers include civil society activists, local politicians and trade unionists.

Info

Day: 2022-08-20
Start time: 10:00
Duration: 01:45
Room: W300 Organization:
Track: Capitalism, health and social crisis
Language: en

Links:

• iCalendar
• The obsession to ‘complete the single market’