In contrast to what happened in other European countries, the Podemos phenomenon prevented that in Spain the frustration and discontent resulting from the EU austerity policies led to a raise of the support to far-right parties. A recent survey showed that Podemos does not only canalize the frustration but that it is close to being the second political force in Spain, with serious possibilities to govern the country in the short term. What are the causes of this political phenomenon? Which implications does it have for European politics? Is it possible to imagine a similar development in the Netherlands?

We will discuss this and other questions with Pablo Echenique (Member of the European Parliament from Podemos), Hilary Wainwright (TNI fellow and Research Director of the New Politics program) and Justus Uitermark (Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and the Gradus Hendriks Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam).

Free entrance. We suggest a contribution of 5 Euros to cover the costs of the event.
Language: English with translation to Spanish available.
Coffee and tea will be served from 15.30.

Places limited, please confirm your place writing to: fenomenopodemos(at)gmail.com

El fenómeno Podemos y nuevas formas de participación política

Con sólo unos meses de existencia el partido político Podemos recibió más de un millón de votos en las elecciones europeas que resultaron en cinco europarlamentarios. La regeneración democrática y alternativas a las medidas de austeridad de la UE son temas centrales de su programa político el cual, – así como la selección de candidatos – fue configurado a través de internet con la participación de decenas de miles de ciudadanos.

A diferencia de en otros países Europeos, el fenómeno Podemos ha evitado que en el estado español el descontento y frustración consecuencia de las medidas de austeridad de la UE hayan sido capitalizados por los partidos de extrema derecha. Más allá de canalizar la frustración, en una reciente encuesta Podemos está a pocos votos de convertirse en la segunda fuerza política con más apoyo en el estado español y con serias opciones de gobernar el país en el corto plazo. ¿Cuáles son las causas de este fenómeno político? ¿Qué implicaciones tiene para la política Europea? ¿Es posible imaginar un fenómeno similar en los Países Bajos?

Discutiremos estas y otras preguntas con Pablo Echenique (Europarlamentario de Podemos), Hilary Wainwright (TNI fellow & Directora de Investigación del Programa sobre Nuevas Prácticas Políticas) y Justus Uitermark (Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and the Gradus Hendriks Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam).

Entrada libre, sugerimos una contribución de 5 Euros para cubrir los costes del evento.
Idioma: Inglés con traducción al español disponible.
Se servirá café y té desde las 15.30.

Aforo limitado, por favor confirma tu asistencia enviado un email a: fenomenopodemos(at)gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/511138332354966/?ref=48

The deaths come as Morocco, under pressure from Spain, struggles to limit the rising tide of sub-Saharan Africans heading to its northern shores in a desperate quest to reach mainland Europe.

Hundreds of migrants headed out to sea from the Moroccan town of Fnideq at 6 am (0600 GMT) in a mass attempt to circumvent the six-metre (20-foot) barriers that mark the land border with the Ceuta enclave, Spanish and Moroccan officials said.

Moroccan police pulled the bodies of nine migrants, including a woman, from the waters near the Spanish border post, the photographer said.

Authorities in Fnideq said around 200 migrants attempted the crossing, while the authorities in Ceuta said around 400 had taken part in the desperate bid to reach EU territory, braving the strong currents of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Moroccan coastguard vessels picked up 150 of the migrants, while the rest turned back to shore, the official MAP news agency reported.

The head of a rights group in the region, Mohamed Benaissa, said many of the migrants were from Cameroon.

Officials in Ceuta said that before heading to the beach, they clashed with police as they tried to enter the Spanish territory via a bridge used to transport goods.

“The immigrants adopted a very aggressive violent attitude, throwing rocks and other objects at the Moroccan and Spanish security forces,” said a spokesman for the authorities in Ceuta.

The Spanish police managed to drive them away using anti-riot gear, including rubber bullets.

“This drama shows once again the risks taken by illegal migrants, who put their lives in danger,” the authorities in Fnideq said.

Storming the barriers

Ceuta is the northernmost point on the coast of northwest Africa and lies just 15 kilometres (9 miles) across the strait from the Spanish mainland.

Along with Spain’s other north African enclave Melilla, it has the European Union’s only land borders in Africa.

They are both seen as stepping stones to a better life in Europe for sub-Saharan migrants, who often risk their lives attempting to enter the tiny Spanish enclaves, either by sea or by storming the barriers separating them from Morocco.

On Sunday, the bodies of five presumed migrants thought to have been trying to reach Spain in an inflatable boat were found in the Nador area of Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, near Melilla.

According to the Rif Human Rights Association, more than 40 migrants died trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla from Morocco over the past two years.

Many more attempt the perilous journey across the Strait of Gibraltar, often in overloaded makeshift boats.

Spain is just one of the southern European countries facing a mounting influx of African migrants and asylum-seekers.

Earlier this week, Italy said the number of asylum-seekers landing on its shores rose tenfold in January, compared with the same month last year.

Rome launched a military and humanitarian response last October, after hundreds of migrants drowned in two shipwreck tragedies near the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Faced with the same problem, Spain last year began to put barbed wire along Melilla’s 11-kilometre (seven-mile) border fence in a bid to deter the migrants, drawing criticism from rights groups.

The authorities in Tangiers, Morocco’s main northern city, also said they were beefing up surveillance along the coast, where they claim to intercept scores of migrants trying to reach Europe each week.

Morocco estimates there are around 30,000 illegal immigrants on its soil, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa.

In early January, the government launched an operation to regularise their situation and grant them residency permits, in the face of allegations that several migrants had died at the hands of police in 2013.

Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140206/9-migrants-drown-trying-reach-spanish-enclave-morocco

When this newsletter is sent out, Ireland will be the first country that exits a Troika program. Unfortunately, the difference for the people will not be that big, because austerity continues. The same counts for people in other countries like Spain or Portugal, who want to follow Ireland on this path. Any country that believes it can get out of the crisis by austerity, will have austerity forever.

The current situation is characterized by a Troika that still pushes for even more austerity and by governments that are doing window-dressing by claiming to see a positive development for the times ahead, which will never become reality if the current policy is continued. Neither in the Troika nor in the national governments, talks are about what should really be on stage: a significant debt relief in many countries – not only for the public, but also the private sector -, a restoration of public services and significant investment for facing some of the great challenges of our time, such as climate change and energy shortage.

By publishing this newsletter with reports from the countries affected by the Troika, we hope to be part of a growing movement that one day will be able to change this.

Greece

When the Troika left its review mission for Greece in November, there was a big dispute about the numbers in the foreseen budget for next year. The Troika estimates the deficit of the budget at least 1 billion euros higher than the government does. In the meantime, the Greek parliament voted for the budget without the consent of the Troika. Troika seems to intend to postpone all important decisions and pressure about the Greek Memorandum to avoid a political crisis in Greece in the next six months: the Greek government could lose its tight majority in the parliament and fall, provoking general elections. This risks indeed to disturb the EU Presidency agenda (Greece delivers an European president in January, for six months) at a politically sensitive moment (European elections). So, after a lot of noise and threatening to postpone further negotiations about the payment of the next bailout tranche to the beginning of next year, the Troika calmed down and returned to Athens on the 10th of December.

Further delays and additional deficits will worsen the debt situation, because those have to be financed with additional short term credits from the financial markets, for which Greece has to pay much higher interest rates than for Troika loans. Neither the additional cuts demanded by the Troika nor the window-dressing by the Greek government can lead the country out of the crisis.

Even without further cuts demanded by the Troika, next year will again be a disaster for many people in Greece. At the end of the year, a ban on home foreclosures runs out and there is a dispute with the Troika on if and how it should be renewed.

While the country still suffers from an official unemployment rate of 27 per cent, there are more layoffs planned. To fulfill the demands of the Troika, the Greek government agreed to fire an additional number of 14,000 employees in the public sector next year.

There are strikes in universities, the health care sector and ministries, where many of these dismissals could take place, and protests by teachers, who are affected by planned closings of schools. Besides that, mobilizations by trade unions and students took place during the visit of the Troika in November and before the voting of the budget in parliament.

With the Greek winter now starting, the high prices of energy again become a problem for many people. In northern Greece, the first schools had to shut down because of lack of money for heating. Many people try to heat their homes by burning wood, because they were cut off from the electricity net for not being able to pay the bills.

In the last weeks, at least three people died by breathing in the poisonous carbon monoxide, or got burnt to dead in house fires. The price of electricity has increased by 59 per cent since 2007, while the income of the poorest 10 per cent of Greeks was in 2012 less than half of what it was in 2009. In many cities, people form comittees of solidarity that organise the sharing of electricity, in an act of civil disobedience.

Ireland

In December, Ireland became the first country that agreed to exit from its Troika agreement, without any additional precautionary loan or guarantee – something that had widely been assumed necessary. The Irish government is that way boldly signaling its ability to continue without external aid. However, this may be rather a message than actual reality. Ireland will still be subject to surveillance of its ‘progress’ on implementing reforms by all three of the Troika bodies, on a six-monthly basis (under the Troika agreement it was every three months).

While the Troika and the government are doing their best to promote the return to the markets as a success story, the reality of the people in Ireland looks quite different. In its final report, the Troika criticizes the failure of the government to reach the target of planned cuts in the health sector – by 200 million euros instead of the promised 600 million euros. In the budget for 2014, the government plans to reduce the deficit by a further 2.5 billion euros; the health care sector is one of the biggest posts that are targeted. For example, the Irish medical card system (holders of this card get free medical treatment) will be reviewed: the government aims to reduce the number of people eligible for this program. Furthermore, while people now get sickness benefits after three days, this period should be increased to six days.

Since the outbreak of the crisis, the number of unemployed has nearly tripled from 107,000 to more than 296,000 people. Public debt raised from 91 per cent of GDP in 2010 to 121 per cent in 2013. Household debt raised to 200 per cent of GDP, while the value of assets for which the debt was created in the first place, has halved since the outbreak of the crisis.

Portugal

Similar to Ireland, Portugal intends to come back to the financial markets as well. To achieve this, the government is willing to pay a high price. At the beginning of December it made a debt swept, postponing the payment of debts due in 2014 and 2015 for three years. This will cost an additional 290 million euros in interest in the next two years.

In the 2014 budget, the government plans cuts that count up to 3.9 billion euros, which is equivalent to 2.3 per cent of the Portuguese GDP. Wages in the public sector should be cut between 2.5 per cent (wages from 675 euros per month) and 10 per cent (wages above 2.000 euros per month), while working time should be raised from 35 hours to 40 hours a week.

Next to that, the government intends to reduce all pensions above 600 euros a month by 10 per cent, but it is still in consultation with the constitutional court about approval, since this court already rejected a similar measure some time ago. In contrast to the cuts that ordinary people suffer from, companies are helped by the government as their tax rates will be decreased.

At the beginning of December, Portugal sold 70 per cent of its mail service, a profitable public company, to the stock markets. Further privatizations are planned for the water company and the national airline company TAP.

There are discussions between the Troika and the government about the minimum wage and wage bargaining. The Troika demands a lower minimum wage and further liberalization of the labor market, which is something that even Portuguese employers rejected as they fear a further drop in domestic demand. While the government claims to see light at the end of the tunnel, the latest statistical figures from September say that domestic demand in Portugal was down 1.5 per cent, investment 3.3 per cent and consumption 1.2 per cent compared to the same time last year.

When the parliament voted on the budget, a mass protest took place in front of the building, where people demanded the resignation of the government. One week before that, police officers protested against cuts and workers of the mail services started a strike against the privatization of their company.

Cyprus

In order to get the next tranche from the Troika, the Cypriot government had to prepare a plan for privatization of state enterprises by which it should earn 1.4 billion euros. According to this plan, the telecommunication company, the electricity company and ports should be privatized before the end of June 2016. Trade unions held protests against these plans. On the 14th of December, trade unions organised a mass rally.

Spain

Despite a warning under the new Two Pack legislation which requires countries’ budgets to be ‘approved’ by the European Commission, Spain claims to have completed all necessary reforms for its EC loan package and that its banking sector is ‘improving’ so much that it will not take up the remaining emergency funds that were made available. As with Ireland, the other celebrated ‘exit’, Spain will continue to have to submit to six-monthly monitoring of the progress of its required reforms, until 75 per cent of the emergency lending provided by the EU (41 billion euros of a 100 billion euros package) is repaid.

After a constitutional reform to prioritize debt repayment over people’s rights (promoted by the Troika and without any social consultation) the government started to implement privatizations in the public sector and cuts in essential public services such as education, health care and social services. Retirement age has been delayed, living conditions worsen, pensions have been frozen and labor rights cut.

Spain has seen many big mobilizations against austerity in the last years and civil society is organising and taking action. Examples are: citizen platforms succesfully preventing house evictions or auditing debt, workers struggling in the health care or education sectors and collectives fighting cuts and corruption through the courts. In response, the government is now planing a new anti-protest law to criminalize protests (with fines of up to €600.000).

Italy

Like Spain, Italy has come under pressure from the European Commission to re-assess its national budget under the new Two Pack-legislation, which gives the Commission the right to conduct surveillance and perform analysis of planned national budgets. EU commissioner Rehn stressed that Italy needs a debt structural adjustment equal to half a percentage point of its gross domestic product, while it is currently only at 0.1 per cent. The consequence from the point of view of the Commission is that the country does not qualify for the EU’s “investment clause” that would allow it to exclude some public funding from its budget deficit calculations, because the government’s spending plan will not cut Italy’s national debt fast enough.

On Monday the 9th of December, thousands of farmers, lorry drivers, pensioners and unemployed people took the streets in Italy as part of a series of protests against the government and the European Union. Demonstrators stopped train services by walking on the tracks while striking lorry drivers disrupted traffic by driving slowly and blocking roads. Further protests are planned.

Slovenia

Despite having big problems in the banking sector, Slovenia still hopes to escape the Troika. Recently a stress test in the banking sector took place, the results of which should already be published when this newsletter is send out. There are expectations that bad loans could count up to 7.9 billion euros (around 20 per cent of GDP). However the Slovenian central bank, which said that it would already know the results of the stress test, is optimistic that the government can recapitalize the banking system on its own. It is said that a sum of up to 4.7 billion euros could be necessary for this.

Who we are and why we write this newsletter

This is the first newsletter of Troika Watch. With this newsletter, we want to cover news about the Troika, the situation in the countries affected by it and the opposition and resistance against it. We hope that this can help connecting struggles and be a contribution to strengthen resistance against austerity policies.

We are a group of people that mostly know each other from meetings like the European Social forum, Firenze 10+10, the Altersummit, EU in crisis or Blockupy. Some of us work for progressive NGOs like the Bretton Woods Project, CEO, CADTM or TNI, others are activists in networks like Attac or ICAN.

We plan to publish this newsletter once or twice a month in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. You can subscribe to this newsletter at www.troikawatch.net/lists and contact us by sending an email to info@troikawatch.net .

Greetings from Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt, Kopenhagen, Lisbon, London, Barcelona and Thessaloniki,
The TroikaWatch Team

Source: http://www.troikawatch.net/1st-newsletter-of-troika-watch/

This position also appears in large sectors of academia, although using a different narrative. They divide the labor market between the “insiders” (those who have a job due to the power of the unions, primarily male adults), and the “outsiders,” (those excluded from the labor market, i.e. the unemployed, youth and women,) due to the rigidities. And they present the first responsible for the unemployment of the second. This position has achieved the category of dogma, not only in the European Commission, but also in the other two components of the Troika, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank. In Spain, such position has become part of the conventional wisdom, reproduced by major economic policy research centers, such as FEDEA, funded by the major banks and large corporations of that country.

The intention of this insiders (adult men) verses outsiders (youth and women) position is to divide the working population, indicating that job security is a “threat” to both youth and women’s employment prospects. And a result of the pressure exercised by the Troika over the Spanish governments, both the one led by the social democrat José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the other one, the Conservative party led by Mariano Rajoy, have been eliminating job protection and permanent fixed contracts. And as a result, unemployment has exploded. It already reaches 27%.  And among the unemployed youth, 57%. Employers have been firing and firing, with very little hiring in return. The outcome of eliminating the so-called rigidities has been the largest unemployment ever.

The Problem is Not in the Labor Market

The evidence is overwhelming that the major cause of unemployment in Spain has very little to do with the supposed rigidities of the labor market. European countries with greater job protections than Spain have less unemployment. Many Northern European countries, where trade unions have consistently had a stronger role and influence over the state than in Spain, have lower unemployment figures and higher occupational rates. Unemployment rates in Sweden (8%), Norway (3.2%), Finland (7.7%) and Iceland (6%) are markedly lower than the EU average (with the EU-27 at 10.5% and EU-15 at 10.6%), and much, much lower than Spain’s (27%). Actually, one of the reasons for the low unemployment in Germany (usually presented as a model for other countries in the EU) is because of “work sharing” rather than firing workers; work sharing that has been established at the workplace as a result of the power of the trade unions in Germany.

Why Spain (and the EU) Has Higher Unemployment than in the US

The evolution of unemployment in the EU and Spain as compared with the US is another case used in support of the argument that Spanish unemployment is a result of labor market rigidities. It is constantly said that the US has lower unemployment than the EU average and Spain because of greater US labor market flexibility. In other words, it is assumed that unemployment is lower in the US because it is easier to fire workers in the US than in the EU (including Spain). If that is the case, then how can it be explained that the U.S. unemployment was higher than the average of the countries that later on became the EU-15 for the majority of years in the post-World War II period, even as the U.S. labor market was already more ‘flexible’ than those of the countries that would eventually form the EU-15? In fact, unemployment in the EU only started to overtake the US unemployment rate when preparations to establish the Euro were underway, as the governing institutions of the euro set controlling inflation as a top priority rather than job creation.

The True Cause of Unemployment: Macroeconomic Policies Pushed by the Troika, including Commissioner Olli Rehn

Higher unemployment in the EU is due, in large part, to the system of governance of the euro, a system of governance that starkly contrasts with that of the dollar. The mechanisms governing the euro reveal the clear domination of financial actors over the economic life of Europe, a practically absolute and suffocating domination with no comparable model elsewhere. For American progressives, accustomed to criticizing (for good reasons) the Federal Reserve Board, it may come as a surprise that the Feds, under Bernanke,  are far to the left of the European Central Bank (ECB), the most right wing and independent central bank in existence today. Actually, the ECB is not even a Central Bank: it is a lobby for banking (very close to German banking community, the center of European financial capital). The formation of the Euro system (See “The Causes and Consequences of the Euro”, published in Publico in Spanish, July 2012) was indeed a triumph of neoliberal ideology; it weakened states and forced them to weaken the European social model, a model that ensured social protections for workers.  One can simply peruse the published statements and documents of the European Central Bank (ECB), of the European Commission, of the International Monetary Fund or of the Bank of Spain to gain a quick and clear view of what these financial institutions are proposing as solutions to the high levels of unemployment in Spain. Ostensibly, their proposals disempower the working class even further, reducing the system to even greater levels of human and social suffering. These three Troika institutions, whose officers generally enjoy the highest pay and best job stability in the European labor market, continue to callously impose cuts, including curtailing unemployment insurance on unemployed populations with minimal resources. Aided and abetted by academics and economic think tanks in well financed institutions that enjoy the same lifestyle and privileges, the individuals behind these institutions proceed with an aggressiveness and class hostility that manifests itself in how these establishments have been treating the popular classes of the countries of the EU. What used to be called the class war is obvious and clear. The control of inflation requires, according to the ECB and to the European Commission to weaken labor as much as possible. And they are achieving what they have always wanted.

Meanwhile the evidence shows clearly that the US has a lower unemployment rate than the Eurozone because there is a federal government with a US Central Bank (the Federal Reserve Board or FRB) with the goal of stimulative economic growth through creation of employment, besides controlling inflation. The agenda of the FRB, led by Mr. Bernanke, is indeed very different than the one pursued by the ECB, led by Mr. Draghi and, before him, by Mr. Trichet.

The poverty Underlying the Physical and Social Infrastructure in Spain

Another significant factor contributing to Spain’s high unemployment is the slow production of jobs, due in part, to the enormous poverty of social and physical infrastructure. This poverty stems from the tremendous poverty of state resources (whether central, regional or local). The figures sadly speak for themselves. Spain is one of the Eurozone countries with the lowest state revenues, lowest public employment and least developed public services (as documented in my book the Underdevelopment of Social Spain, 2006, in Spanish). These conditions are the result of an enormous regression in fiscal policies, conditions similar to those suffered in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, countries that are in even greater crises  than in Spain (For more on the crises in the peripheral countries, see “Why Does the Crisis in Spain Remain Unresolved and What Can be Done About It”, published inSystem in Spanish, July 2012).

The argument put forward by the ECB, the European Commission and the IMF that the Spanish State has spent too much, far above its possibility, is also false and it is easy to show it. Spain has the lowest public expenditures per capita in the EU 15, and it was so when the crisis started in 2007. The rapid growth of its public deficit had nothing to do with overspending but rather with an enormous decline of revenues due to high unemployment and reduction of economic activity (facilitated by the enormous cuts of public expenditures and investments pushed by Olli Rehn, the Troika, and co.). What we are witnessing in Europe is the control of the institutions of governance of the Commission and of the ECB by economists of neoliberal persuasion (close to the Tea Party in its mentality) that are achieving what they want: i.e., to weaken labor.

Vicente Navarro is a Professor of Public Policy at Pompeu Fabra University, Spain and Johns Hopkins University.

This article was originally published by the Social Europe Journal.

Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/23/the-case-of-spain/

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said eurozone unemployment rose 0.1 percentage point in May to 12.1 percent. That’s a new record for the region as the previous months’ rates were revised down, including April’s original 12.2 percent estimate.

A spokesman for the statistics office said the revisions arose because of findings in its quarterly labor force survey, which provides key insights into the working population.

Across the eurozone, there were 19.22 million people unemployed, 67,000 higher than the previous month. Unemployment in the eurozone has been rising as the region has remained stuck in recession since late 2011. Figures next month will show whether the eurozone remained in recession during the second quarter of the year — the seventh quarter in a row.

Most economists think it will be a close call. While countries such as Germany have seen their economies prosper, those at the forefront of Europe’s debt crisis, such as Greece and Spain, have seen economic contraction on a massive scale.

Greece and Spain also have the highest unemployment rates in the eurozone. Spain’s unemployment was 26.9 percent, while Greece’s rate in March — its statistics are compiled on different timeframes — was 26.8 percent. Both countries are also mired in a youth unemployment crisis. Spain’s rate was 56.5 percent while Greece’s was 59.2 percent.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eurozone-unemployment-record-high-19540538#.UdFT8loW2cE

               Associated Press  German flags wave in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin.

FRANKFURT—Immigration to Germany hit a 17-year high last year as Southern Europeans flocked north to escape economic recession and search for jobs, fueling the debate over the consequences of immigration for the German economy.

In all, 1.08 million people moved to Germany last year, or 13% more than in 2011, Germany’s statistics office said Tuesday, indicating that the euro zone’s debt crisis is reshaping the fabric of European society as well as the economy. The biggest increases came from people moving from the stricken economies of Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy.

“Until recently, Germany was an emigration country, but now people are flocking to Germany in search of work, as their home countries are mired in recession,” said Wolfgang Nagl, a labor market expert at Germany’s Ifo institute.

The number of people moving to Germany from Spain jumped 45% in 2012 from a year earlier, excluding German expatriates, to 30,000. About 42,000 people moved to Germany from Italy, marking an increase of 40%, while the number of immigrants to Germany from Greece and Portugal rose 43% for each country in 2012, highlighting an acceleration of a trend that began in 2010 after the Greek crisis erupted.

While some German cities, such as Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia, are reportedly struggling to cope with the influx of poorer Roma families from Bulgaria and Romania who often don’t speak German and whose children need to be quickly integrated into schools and apprentice schemes, most economists believe that Germany is benefiting from the immigration boom.

They argue that the influx of foreign workers will help alleviate shortages of skilled labor in some sectors of the economy—such as engineering, information technology and health care—as unemployment in Germany remains near its lowest level since reunification in 1990.

“Germany certainly benefits from the recent rise in immigration,” Mr. Nagl said. “The Greeks, Spaniards and other people moving to Germany contribute to economic activity—they rent out flats, they go to the shops to purchase food and other things, they pay taxes and generally contribute to the social security system.”

According to the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration, or SVR, immigrants are on average 10 years younger than Germany’s native population and are also more likely to have a university degree.

“Germany is reaping the measurable rewards of free movement thanks to skilled immigrants from other EU countries. This has received too little attention to date,” said SVR Chairwoman Christine Langenfeld.

Like in previous years, most immigrants in 2012 came from neighboring Poland, the statistics office said. Immigration from Slovenia was up 62% as the transition period toward free labor movement ended in May 2011. The number of Hungarians moving to Germany rose 31%.

Costanza Biavaschi, an economist at the Bonn-based IZA Institute for the Study of Labor, also dismissed concern that Southern Europeans move to Germany to live off its social welfare system. “It’s not true that immigrants have higher welfare takeup rates,” she said, adding that they “are usually well educated, young and ambitious and I don’t see compelling evidence that they are benefit scroungers.”

Tens of thousands of people joined this Sunday the so called White Tide, an allusion to the color of the doctors’ white coat, to demand free, quality public health.

Users and professionals, mostly dressed in their white coats, joined this new peaceful protest, called by several trade unions under the slogan ” Public health is not sold, but defended “

The march, fifth so far this year, began in the central Plaza de Cibeles, where several columns that started from various hospitals in the region gathered, ending up at famous Puerta del Sol.

In a statement read at the end of the demonstration, the organizers accused the Madrid government, led by the right-wing ruling Popular Party (PP), of assembling mounting a plan to benefit speculators.

The organizers of the White Tide demanded the resignation of the president of the Community of Madrid, Ignacio Gonzalez, and his Health Minister Javier Fernández-Lasquetty.

Source: http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1334671&Itemid=1

Trade School is an alternative, self-organized school that runs on barter.