• Login
RIPESS Europe
  • fr Français
  • es Español
  • en English
  • Home
  • About us
    • History
    • Vision
    • Goals
    • RIPESS Charter
    • Manifesto
  • Governance
    • Network of Members
    • How to become a member
      • Membership fee payment
    • Coordination Committee
    • Advisory Board
    • RIPESS Intercontinental Board
    • Rules and Regulations
    • Articles of the Association
    • Privacy Policy
  • Activities
    • General Assemblies
      • 1st GA – Barcelona 2011
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 2nd GA – Lille 2013
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 3rd GA – Villarceaux 2014
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 4th GA – Berlin 2015
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 5th GA – Villarceaux 2016
        • Online registration
        • How to get to La Bergerie
        • GA 2016: Programme
        • GA2016: Documentation and results
        • GA 2016 Workshops
          • W1: Inter-cooperation and co-construction
          • W2: Rethinking the economy
          • W3: Impact & social audit
          • W4: Panorama on SSE in Europe
          • W5: Solidarity Economy, Agroecology and Food Sovereignty
          • W6: European public policies and SSE
      • 6th GA – Athens 2017
        • Online Registration
        • Agenda of 6th General Assembly
        • Forum to prepare GA Athens 2017
      • 7th GA – Zagreb 2018
        • Agenda of the 7th General Assembly
      • 8th GA – Lyon 2019
        • Online registration
        • Agenda GA 2019 – Lyon
          • Cities and SSE: policies and practices to transform the economy
        • GA 2019 Documents
      • 9th GA – Online 2020
        • GA 2020 Online registration
        • Agenda GA 2020
        • GA2020 – Documents
    • Working Areas and Projects
      • BUSSE – Building Up SSE
      • SSE VET 2
      • IVET AND SSE
    • Webinars: Public policies and SSE
    • Meetings
      • EFSSE 2016 (European Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy)
    • Activity Reports
  • Networking
    • 2020 thematic groups, our members collaborate !
    • Alternative Media and SSE
      • 2nd Independent media & SSE Meeting (Feb 2018)
        • 2nd Independant media and SSE Meeting Agenda
      • Alternative media network participants
      • Alternative media mapping
    • Panorama of SSE in Europe
      • Survey: Panorama on Social Solidarity Economy in Europe
      • History of the Panorama of SSE in Europe
    • Mapping
    • Forums
    • Working Groups
  • News
    • Solidarity and pandemic crisis
      • France
      • Spain
      • Portugal
      • Switzerland
      • Italy
      • Greece
      • Poland
      • International
    • SSE European Agenda
    • Latest news
    • Newsletters
      • Subscribe
  • WSFTE
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Socioeco.org
    • Resource documents
    • Sitography
    • Videos
    • Photos
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About us
    • History
    • Vision
    • Goals
    • RIPESS Charter
    • Manifesto
  • Governance
    • Network of Members
    • How to become a member
      • Membership fee payment
    • Coordination Committee
    • Advisory Board
    • RIPESS Intercontinental Board
    • Rules and Regulations
    • Articles of the Association
    • Privacy Policy
  • Activities
    • General Assemblies
      • 1st GA – Barcelona 2011
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 2nd GA – Lille 2013
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 3rd GA – Villarceaux 2014
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 4th GA – Berlin 2015
        • Presentation
        • Media and Documents
      • 5th GA – Villarceaux 2016
        • Online registration
        • How to get to La Bergerie
        • GA 2016: Programme
        • GA2016: Documentation and results
        • GA 2016 Workshops
          • W1: Inter-cooperation and co-construction
          • W2: Rethinking the economy
          • W3: Impact & social audit
          • W4: Panorama on SSE in Europe
          • W5: Solidarity Economy, Agroecology and Food Sovereignty
          • W6: European public policies and SSE
      • 6th GA – Athens 2017
        • Online Registration
        • Agenda of 6th General Assembly
        • Forum to prepare GA Athens 2017
      • 7th GA – Zagreb 2018
        • Agenda of the 7th General Assembly
      • 8th GA – Lyon 2019
        • Online registration
        • Agenda GA 2019 – Lyon
          • Cities and SSE: policies and practices to transform the economy
        • GA 2019 Documents
      • 9th GA – Online 2020
        • GA 2020 Online registration
        • Agenda GA 2020
        • GA2020 – Documents
    • Working Areas and Projects
      • BUSSE – Building Up SSE
      • SSE VET 2
      • IVET AND SSE
    • Webinars: Public policies and SSE
    • Meetings
      • EFSSE 2016 (European Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy)
    • Activity Reports
  • Networking
    • 2020 thematic groups, our members collaborate !
    • Alternative Media and SSE
      • 2nd Independent media & SSE Meeting (Feb 2018)
        • 2nd Independant media and SSE Meeting Agenda
      • Alternative media network participants
      • Alternative media mapping
    • Panorama of SSE in Europe
      • Survey: Panorama on Social Solidarity Economy in Europe
      • History of the Panorama of SSE in Europe
    • Mapping
    • Forums
    • Working Groups
  • News
    • Solidarity and pandemic crisis
      • France
      • Spain
      • Portugal
      • Switzerland
      • Italy
      • Greece
      • Poland
      • International
    • SSE European Agenda
    • Latest news
    • Newsletters
      • Subscribe
  • WSFTE
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Socioeco.org
    • Resource documents
    • Sitography
    • Videos
    • Photos
No Result
View All Result
RIPESS Europe
No Result
View All Result
Home Campaign

Post-growth: The EU needs a stability and wellbeing pact, not more growth

by
October 17, 2018
in Campaign, Featured, Newsletter
0
Post-growth: The EU needs a stability and wellbeing pact, not more growth

Article of The Guardian, September 16, 2018

238 academics call on the European Union and its member states to plan for a post-growth future in which human and ecological wellbeing is prioritised over GDP

This week, scientists, politicians, and policymakers are gathering in Brussels for a landmark conference. The aim of this event, organised by members of the European parliament from five different political groups, alongside trade unions and NGOs, is to explore possibilities for a “post-growth economy” in Europe.

For the past seven decades, GDP growth has stood as the primary economic objective of European nations. But as our economies have grown, so has our negative impact on the environment. We are now exceeding the safe operating space for humanity on this planet, and there is no sign that economic activity is being decoupled from resource use or pollution at anything like the scale required. Today, solving social problems within European nations does not require more growth. It requires a fairer distribution of the income and wealth that we already have.

Growth is also becoming harder to achieve due to declining productivity gains, market saturation, and ecological degradation. If current trends continue, there may be no growth at all in Europe within a decade. Right now the response is to try to fuel growth by issuing more debt, shredding environmental regulations, extending working hours, and cutting social protections. This aggressive pursuit of growth at all costs divides society, creates economic instability, and undermines democracy.

Those in power have not been willing to engage with these issues, at least not until now. The European commission’s Beyond GDP project became GDP and Beyond. The official mantra remains growth — redressed as “sustainable”, “green”, or “inclusive” – but first and foremost, growth. Even the new UN sustainable development goals include the pursuit of economic growth as a policy goal for all countries, despite the fundamental contradiction between growth and sustainability.

The good news is that within civil society and academia, a post-growth movement has been emerging. It goes by different names in different places: décroissance, Postwachstum, steady-state or doughnut economics, prosperity without growth, to name a few. Since 2008, regular degrowth conferences have gathered thousands of participants. A new global initiative, the Wellbeing Economies Alliance (or WE-All), is making connections between these movements, while a European research network has been developing new “ecological macroeconomic models”. Such work suggests that it’s possible to improve quality of life, restore the living world, reduce inequality, and provide meaningful jobs – all without the need for economic growth, provided we enact policies to overcome our current growth dependence.

Some of the changes that have been proposed include limits on resource use, progressive taxation to stem the tide of rising inequality, and a gradual reduction in working time. Resource use could be curbed by introducing a carbon tax, and the revenue could be returned as a dividend for everyone or used to finance social programmes. Introducing both a basic and a maximum income would reduce inequality further, while helping to redistribute care work and reducing the power imbalances that undermine democracy. New technologies could be used to reduce working time and improve quality of life, instead of being used to lay off masses of workers and increase the profits of the privileged few.

Given the risks at stake, it would be irresponsible for politicians and policymakers not to explore possibilities for a post-growth future. The conference happening in Brussels is a promising start, but much stronger commitments are needed. As a group of concerned social and natural scientists representing all Europe, we call on the European Union, its institutions, and member states to:

1. Constitute a special commission on post-growth futures in the EU parliament. This commission should actively debate the future of growth, devise policy alternatives for post-growth futures, and reconsider the pursuit of growth as an overarching policy goal.

2. Incorporate alternative indicators into the macroeconomic framework of the EU and its member states. Economic policies should be evaluated in terms of their impact on human wellbeing, resource use, inequality, and the provision of decent work. These indicators should be given higher priority than GDP in decision-making.

3. Turn the stability and growth pact (SGP) into a stability and wellbeing pact. The SGP is a set of rules aimed at limiting government deficits and national debt. It should be revised to ensure member states meet the basic needs of their citizens, while reducing resource use and waste emissions to a sustainable level.

4. Establish a ministry for economic transition in each member state. A new economy that focuses directly on human and ecological wellbeing could offer a much better future than one that is structurally dependent on economic growth.

This post is also available in / aussi en: French Spanish

Tags: 0918-ENDegrowth
Previous Post

The International Fair Trade Charter

Next Post

Flowing through the RIPESS stream

Next Post
GA2018 Vukovic Drazen Simlesa

Flowing through the RIPESS stream

Join the agenda of Transformative Economies !

World Social Forum of Transformative Economies

RIPESS EU on FB

European Agenda

Solidarity Economy events in Europe

iCalRSSSubscribe

Receive new events notifications in your email.

Thanks for subscribing.
All fields are required.
February 1, 2021
...
  • iCal
  • Visit Website
All Day

EPOG+ Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree – CALL FOR APPLICATIONS AND SCHOLARSHIP

Course

EPOG+ - Economic POlicies for the Global transition Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree
 
 
 
 
Call for applications
 
Economic POlicies for the Global transition (EPOG+) is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in economics, supported by the European Union. It offers a world-class integrated Master's programme on the (digital, socioeconomic, ecological) transition processes with a pluralist approach and interdisciplinary perspectives.
 
The main objective of the programme is to give birth to a new generation of international experts, able to define and assess economic policies and evolve within different political, social and regional contexts. Towards this objective, the EPOG+ Master’s programme goes beyond the reach of standard economic theory to include various heterodox/institutionnalist political economy approaches.
 
The full partners (degree awarding institutions) include a wide set of prestigous institutions:
  • University of technology of Compiègne (UTC),
  • Sorbonne University,
  • University of Paris,
  • University of Turin,
  • Berlin School of Economics and Law,
  • University of Rome 3,
  • Vienna University of Economics and Business,
  • University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
 
It also involves more than 30 (academic and non-academic) associated partners in Europe and the world.
 
Scholarships
 
The very best students from all over the world will be eligible for scholarships awarded for 2 years by the European Commission, based on our selection:
  • The « Programme countries » scholarships for students from Member States of the European Union (EU) as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, United Kingdom.
  • The « Partner countries » scholarships for students from all the other countries.
 
More details here.
 
When to apply?
 
Application deadline: February 1, 2021 - 12:00 (Paris time).
Note that two recommendation letters are needed to apply and have to be provided by the deadline.
The course for the new cohort will start in September 2021.
 
More information www.epog.eu
 
The selection will be organised jointly with the EPOG 2.0 programme.
Read More
February 2, 2021
...
  • iCal
2:30 pm / 5:30 pm UTC+2

Ripess Europe Strategic yearly meeting


February 23, 2021
...
  • iCal
  • Visit Website
12:00 am UTC+2

REDPES-RIPESS Workshop Series in Solidarity Economy


February 23rd - “Social currencies in rural areas: contributions towards community autonomy” - José Luiz Fernández-Pacheco (University of Extremadura /Social Currency Institute)
Read More
March 23, 2021
...
  • iCal
  • Visit Website
12:00 am UTC+2

REDPES-RIPESS Workshop Series in Solidarity Economy


March 23rd - “Solidarity Economy and the Commons” - Ana Margarida Esteves (CEI-IUL, ISCTE)
Read More

RSS RIPESS Intercontinental

  • Convergence of transformative economies in Ecuador: “Weaving an economy for the sustainability of life” December 20, 2020
  • SSE as the most efficient solution to the Covid-19 crisis December 20, 2020

RSS Socioeco news

  • ESS Live : la châine de l’économie sociale et solidaire de la Réunion January 20, 2021
  • Pays de Grasse : table ronde « L’ESS, un atout pour la revitalisation des territoires! » January 20, 2021

Ressources

Facebook Twitter

Copyleft 2020 Solidarity Economy Europe

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About us
    • History
    • Vision
    • Goals
    • RIPESS Charter
    • Manifesto
  • Governance
    • Network of Members
    • How to become a member
      • Membership fee payment
    • Coordination Committee
    • Advisory Board
    • RIPESS Intercontinental Board
    • Rules and Regulations
    • Articles of the Association
    • Privacy Policy
  • Activities
    • General Assemblies
      • 1st GA – Barcelona 2011
      • 2nd GA – Lille 2013
      • 3rd GA – Villarceaux 2014
      • 4th GA – Berlin 2015
      • 5th GA – Villarceaux 2016
      • 6th GA – Athens 2017
      • 7th GA – Zagreb 2018
      • 8th GA – Lyon 2019
      • 9th GA – Online 2020
    • Working Areas and Projects
      • BUSSE – Building Up SSE
      • SSE VET 2
      • IVET AND SSE
    • Webinars: Public policies and SSE
    • Meetings
      • EFSSE 2016 (European Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy)
    • Activity Reports
  • Networking
    • 2020 thematic groups, our members collaborate !
    • Alternative Media and SSE
      • 2nd Independent media & SSE Meeting (Feb 2018)
      • Alternative media network participants
      • Alternative media mapping
    • Panorama of SSE in Europe
      • Survey: Panorama on Social Solidarity Economy in Europe
      • History of the Panorama of SSE in Europe
    • Mapping
    • Forums
    • Working Groups
  • News
    • Solidarity and pandemic crisis
      • France
      • Spain
      • Portugal
      • Switzerland
      • Italy
      • Greece
      • Poland
      • International
    • SSE European Agenda
    • Latest news
    • Newsletters
      • Subscribe
  • WSFTE
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Socioeco.org
    • Resource documents
    • Sitography
    • Videos
    • Photos

Copyleft 2020 Solidarity Economy Europe

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
7ads6x98y
  • English
  • Français (French)
  • Español (Spanish)

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

    No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.

      Multilingual WordPress with WPML

      Skip to toolbar
      • About WordPress
        • About WordPress
        • WordPress.org
        • Documentation
        • Support
        • Feedback
      • Log In