The focus on public debt reduction is completely irrelevant since Greece is still in a massive current account deficit, so the debt simply went to the private sectors and households.
Europe suffered and is still suffering from an epic shortfall of aggregate demand post 2008 and persistent account imbalances, imo its downfall is mostly due to macro economic factors not structural or otherwise.
“The political centre, represented by Labour Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron”
I don’t think this is a correct assessment. Labour (and Starmer) are pretty much hardline left, while Macron is at least centre-left; certainly not politically centrist.
I know what you mean, yet I'd point out that this is largely a matter of perspective. If we judge what counts as (far) right and (far) left from the standpoint of subjective values that sit "above" any country's political scene, then your point surely stands, and I'd tend to agree. Yet if we measure it against the political reality on the ground, Labour in the UK does represent the political centre, institutionally if not ideologically, being one of the two essential components of the British two-party system.
And yet if you compare Labour's policies (and especially's Starmer's public statements over the years. such as the need for "diversity and inclusion"), they very much align to the left by any social, cultural, and political standard possible. You can argue that Labour is a center-left party, but hardline centrist they are not. I don't want to get into a polemical discussion here, but that's how I see it, and that's how I think most people will see it.
Adam Tooze analyzed the veracity of the 'Europe in Decline' narrative and also seems to think it comes up short, but for somewhat different reasons: https://youtu.be/Deo6uoYFewc?si=pKm2-VGa6hGuvgjR
The focus on public debt reduction is completely irrelevant since Greece is still in a massive current account deficit, so the debt simply went to the private sectors and households.
Europe suffered and is still suffering from an epic shortfall of aggregate demand post 2008 and persistent account imbalances, imo its downfall is mostly due to macro economic factors not structural or otherwise.
“The political centre, represented by Labour Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron”
I don’t think this is a correct assessment. Labour (and Starmer) are pretty much hardline left, while Macron is at least centre-left; certainly not politically centrist.
I know what you mean, yet I'd point out that this is largely a matter of perspective. If we judge what counts as (far) right and (far) left from the standpoint of subjective values that sit "above" any country's political scene, then your point surely stands, and I'd tend to agree. Yet if we measure it against the political reality on the ground, Labour in the UK does represent the political centre, institutionally if not ideologically, being one of the two essential components of the British two-party system.
And yet if you compare Labour's policies (and especially's Starmer's public statements over the years. such as the need for "diversity and inclusion"), they very much align to the left by any social, cultural, and political standard possible. You can argue that Labour is a center-left party, but hardline centrist they are not. I don't want to get into a polemical discussion here, but that's how I see it, and that's how I think most people will see it.
Adam Tooze analyzed the veracity of the 'Europe in Decline' narrative and also seems to think it comes up short, but for somewhat different reasons: https://youtu.be/Deo6uoYFewc?si=pKm2-VGa6hGuvgjR