Our Europe, Not Theirs - Softcover

The policies pursued in Brussels are unremittingly conservative, the product of the technocratic right's dominance of EU institutions and most national capitals. These essays propose a clean break with the right's hegemony and suggest a radical agenda for change and reform. Instead of supporting the disruptive distraction of a referendum, the UK left should work with other European progressives to create a programme for economic, social and ecological renewal for Europe in the world. In this volume, contributors - all leading MEPs and senior EU officials - discuss austerity's throttling of Europe's growth prospects; how to respond to the return of poverty and rampant inequalities; and how to challenge unaccountable corporate power. They also engage critically with Europe's environmental policies, which have been long on promise and short on delivery; its short-sighted immigration management; and its sacrifice of fair trade in the name of an ideological commitment to unbridled globalisation.

Julian Priestley is former Secretary General of the European Parliament (1997/2007) and Glyn Ford is the former leader of the Labour MEPs at the Parliament.