Global Economic Crisis

Our country has entered a deep economic crisis, which affects almost all areas of economic activity. The current economic crisis is a crisis of the capitalist system and the neoliberal model of economic development. It is a result of the system’s drive to seek fast and high profit rates and not the growth of the real economy, but speculation in financial markets.

Neoliberalism is the most extreme form and instrument for the development of the capitalist system. It relies on the “free market” with minimal state intervention, while opposing the welfare state and every form of social control over the market and wealth. The neoliberal policies have exacerbated the global economic crisis even more and cannot be the answer to overcoming it.

The neoliberal concept is dominant in the policies implemented in general in the EU and especially in the Eurozone, with the most extreme expression being the policies in the countries that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Troika. Through these policies the political and economic attack on the state’s role, small and middle strata and on working people are growing through institutional and structural changes.

The process of EU integration, with the deepening Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) at the forefront, constitutes a concession of Member States’ sovereignty to an EU level. The areas of competences conceded include, inter alia, public finances and affect the entire operation of a state. Consequently, the deepening of the EMU is accompanied by policies centred on shrinking the public sector, curbing the welfare state and attacking working people’s rights and gains.