Abstract
From a Marxist perspective, Cécile Barbier retraces the historical construction of the European Union as an economic and financial free-market space, focused on how the ideas of the German ordoliberal tradition have been influential in shaping fundamental central institutions such as the Central Bank and the Eurozone. Particularly attentive to how the ordoliberal authors were initially inspired by Marxist capitalist critique with their idea of “social market economy”, as well as to how the recurring economic and political crisis of the European construction have led to the progressive radicalization of ordoliberal orthodoxy and of predatory finance, Barbier defends a critical return to Marxian perspectives and to the struggle for the commons.
Modern bourgeois society, which has set in motion such powerful means of production and exchange, resembles a magician who no longer knows how to dominate the infernal powers he has conjured up.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto
The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.
John Kenneth Galbraith, Money: Whence it came, where it went
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Notes
- 1.
In 1999, Gerard Schröder’s arrival at the Chancellery heralded a break with the past in terms of openness to financial markets, as analyzed by German historian Rudolf von Thadden in an article published by the French newspaper Le Monde: “Les Allemands sont plus ouverts à la globalisation que les Français” (December, 1999).
- 2.
In Anti-Dühring, Karl Marx’s alter ego, Friedrich Engels, prophesied the demise of the state with Saint-Simon’s words: “The government of men gives way to the administration of things”. Engels acknowledged Marxism’s debt to Saint-Simonism.
- 3.
“At the quarterly meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce held this afternoon a lively discussion took place on the subject of free trade. A resolution was proposed which read: ‘Having waited in vain for 40 years for other nations to follow England’s example and adopt free trade, this Chamber feels that the time has come to revise this view’. The proposal was rejected by a majority of just one vote, with 21 in favor and 22 against. (Evening Standard, November 1, 1868)” (Marx 1973, 27).
- 4.
Jean Baptiste Say asserted in 1805 that: “The monetary veil merely masks the reality of exchanges. Products are exchanged for products, since they serve each other as outlets.”
- 5.
Between 1945 and 1949, the struggle to enshrine ordoliberalism in the Basic Law was analyzed in terms of the “economic constitution” theory. According to this doctrine, “every constitution should respect the interdependencies between a system of free competition, public freedoms and the rule of law – more than that, it should be committed to protecting this precious balance against any ‘political interference’” (Joerges 2006).
- 6.
Budgetary discipline was reinforced by the Six Pack and the Two Pack, but their principles could not be incorporated into the European treaties due to the refusal of the United Kingdom, followed by the Czech Republic. The result was an international treaty, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG), or the Fiscal Treaty, considered by the ECB President as “a major political achievement, as it is the first step towards a fiscal union”. In the same interview, Mario Draghi said that the European social model was dead (Thomson et al. 2012).
- 7.
For debates, see in France https://assoeconomiepolitique.org/manifeste-pour-une-economie-pluraliste/ and in Belgium http://rethinkingeconomics.be/index.php/ressources/.
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Barbier, C. (2024). Marx and Europe, or How to Overcome Predatory Finance?. In: de Nanteuil, M., Fjeld, A. (eds) Marx and Europe. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53736-3_5
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