Search

Open letter: EU leaders’ chance to create good history

All Topics
Authors
Search author

30/06/2015

Published in Financial Times (29th June, 2015)

Sir, We call on European leaders to avoid creating bad history!

Enable Greece to pay the €1.6bn payment to the IMF on June 30. Allow a debt swap with ECB bonds coming due in July and August in exchange for bonds from the bailout fund, with longer maturities and lower interest rates reflecting the lower borrowing costs of the creditors. Then make a fresh start, bearing in mind, first, that the contractionary austerity policy demanded of Greece has been discredited by the IMF’s own research department; and second, that Syriza’s leaders are committed to undertaking far-reaching reforms in the Greek state — if they can get the latitude to do so. 

Prof Joseph Stiglitz Columbia University; Nobel Prize winner of Economics

Prof Thomas Piketty Paris School of Economics

Massimo D’Alema Former Prime Minister of Italy; president of FEPS (Foundation of European Progressive Studies)

Prof Mary Kaldor London School of Economics 

Prof Stephany Griffith-Jones IPD Columbia University

Prof Inge Kaul Hertie School of Governance

Hilary Wainwright Transnational Institute, Amsterdam

Michael Burke Economists Against Austerity

Prof Panicos Demetriades University of Leicester; ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and former member of the ECB Governing Council

Prof Gustav Horn University of Duisburg-Essen

Prof James Galbraith University of Texas at Austin

Prof Marcus Miller Warwick University

Prof Jose Antonio Ocampo Columbia University

Prof Avinash Persaud Peterson Institute for International Economics

Prof James Putzel London School of Economics

Prof Helmut Reisen German Development Institute

Dr Ernst Stetter Secretary General, FEPS (Foundation of European Progressive Studies)

Prof Frances Stewart University of Oxford

Prof Robert Wade London School of Economics

Download the PDF

Find all related publications
Publications
See all
15/07/2024
Book

Climate progress in the EU and the world

FEPS Primer series - Stephen Minas
10/07/2024
Policy Brief

Digital regulatory power but technology taker

How do we create an ecosystem for the European digital model
03/07/2024
Policy Brief

Embracing Feminist Foreign Policy within EU strategic foresight capabilities

03/07/2024
Policy Study

Building Economic Democracy in Europe

Concepts, Cases and Achieving Progressive Change
Find all related news
News
See all
04/07/2024

FEPS Delegation attends T20/C20 Midterm Conference in Brazil

27/06/2024

Join Tax the EU Billionaires Day!

25/06/2024

The EUROPAEUM delegation visits FEPS

20/06/2024

FEPS celebrates its annual General Assembly and welcomes new members

Find all related in the media
In the media
See all

Paul Adamson talks to László Andor

by Encompass 23/07/2024
Listen to this podcast featuring László Andor, Secretary General of FEPS, and Paul Adamson, Founder of Encompass, as they explore the rise and impact of Viktor Orban and the shifting power dynamics in the European Parliament.

Eurozone Finance Ministers to talk belt tightening

by POLITICO 15/07/2024
FEPS Secretary General László Andor discusses the rise of supply-side progressivism following the success of the Labour Party in the UK Elections with POLITICO

NATO-bővítés sok vitával: érvek, ellenérvek és lobbik a Clinton-elnökség idején

by BBC History 07/07/2024
"The controversial NATO enlargement: pros, cons and lobbying during the Clinton presidency" This article, written by FEPS Secretary General László Andor, looks back to the 1990s when the Eastern enlargement of NATO was requested, discussed, orchestrated, and eventually completed.

Baloldal nyugaton és keleten

by Népszava 04/07/2024
'Left in the West and East' Read FEPS Secretary General László Andor's assessment of the European Parliament election outcomes