The awkward truth of industrial policy
The global economy suffered a significant upturn following COVID-19. However, the signs that this increase has reached a stage of exhaustion are clearly conditioned by the climate crisis: the rate of economic growth of the major world powers, productivity is stagnating and ambitious renewable investment programmes are fading for lack of profitability.
In this context, there has been a change of discourse: the free market is no longer the solution to all problems, the dogma laissez-faire is limited to characters like Milei. A new consensus seems to be emerging, in which public intervention in the economy is being advocated. On the right and left, industrial policy is being returned. In general, for those of us who are always critical of the free market and demand public and Community management of the economy, it would certainly be good news, but beyond the headlines we have to look at the content, because not all industrial policies are the same.
Last year the companies of Hego Euskal Herria produced material worth EUR 500 million for the Spanish Army
The first example, that of the Next Generation funds: it has targeted big capital, but there is no clear evidence as to whether it has influenced the level of production. However, what seemed like a new ecologist Keynesianism is being replaced by a classic war Keyneasianism. This is evidenced by the European Commission’s new strategy for the defence industry, which sets as one of its objectives the promotion of trade geared to defence at internal level, so that 50% of the materials produced are marketed within the European Union by 2030.
On that chessboard, where do we stand? The Basque Country stands out for being an exporter. A third of what we export goes to Germany and France, precisely, to the main promoters of the war economy and to the sectors that, directly or indirectly, are suppliers of the defence industry. Aeronautics, steel and vehicles are half of what we sell to Germany and one third of what we sell to France. In addition, 10 per cent are weapons and ammunition. As if that were not enough, according to the Delàs Peace Research Center, last year the companies of Hego Euskal Herria produced material worth 500 million euros for the Spanish Army. Therefore, the design of the industrial policy of the Basque Country requires confronting this uncomfortable truth and, consequently, deciding how we stand in this warmongering escalation.
Bidali zure iritzi artikuluak iritzia@argia.eus helbide elektronikora
ARGIAk ez du zertan bat etorri artikuluen edukiarekin. Idatzien gehienezko luzera 4.500 karakterekoa da (espazioak barne). Idazkera aldetik gutxieneko zuzentasun bat beharrezkoa da: batetik, ARGIAk ezin du hartu zuzenketa sakona egiteko lanik; bestetik, egitekotan edukia nahi gabe aldatzeko arriskua dago. ARGIAk azaleko zuzenketak edo moldaketak egingo dizkie artikuluei, behar izanez gero.
Zer jakin behar dut? Norekin erlazionatu behar dut? Non bizi behar dut? Ardura horiekin gabiltza gizakiok gure gizarteen baitan bizitza on baten ideia bizitzeko bidean. Ondo erantzuten ez badakigu, bazterretan geratuko garen beldurrez.
Joan den astean, kanpoan geratzearen... [+]
Gure lurraldeetan eta bizitzetan sortzen diren behar, desio eta ekimenen inguruan gero eta gehiago entzuten dugu harreman eta proiektu publiko-komunitarioak landu beharraz, eta pozgarria da benetan, merkaturik gabeko gizarte antolaketarako ezinbesteko eredua baita. Baina... [+]
We have renewed the dialogue in the secretariat of the faculty, for the most auspicious: they are far away, for their enrollment, the times when only the students came. The trend has changed for a long time, and parents – most notably mothers – are taking an increasingly... [+]
The argument of a syllogism has three propositions, the last of which is necessarily deduced from the other two. It is with this deductive logic that I can analyze, for me, the long and traumatic socioecological conflict in Carpinteria that is taking place in Navarre.
The... [+]
I have recently worked in class on Etxahun Barkox’s beautiful and touching cobla. The bad guy! The afflictions of the house began because of the creation of the “praube with beauty”, but in seventeen years she had entered the sea of misfortune, having to abandon the girl... [+]
Azken egunak garrantzi handikoak izan dira Bartzelonan, etxebizitzaren aldeko mugimenduarentzat eta espekulatzaileen aurkako borrokarentzat. Urtarrilaren 28an, polizia-armada batek Raval auzoko Massana Zaharrari [zentro sozial okupatua] eraso egin zion goizaldean, aurrez abisatu... [+]
I don't want my daughter disguising herself as a Gypsy in the caldereros. I don’t want Gypsy children at my daughter’s school to dress up as Gypsies in caldereros. Because being a gypsy is not a disguise. Because being a gypsy is not a party that takes place once a year, with... [+]
The road goes by steps, and I learned a little while ago that it seems to have already begun. But people also want to learn to fill that sentence with content. Alone we could achieve little, maybe even resignation as soon as we started. Gathering huge crowds can also complicate... [+]
Ez zuen egoki jokatu, neurriak hartu behar ziren, bestela, ez dugu ikasten. Itxuraz, ez zen ohartzen egindakoaren inpaktuaz, normal jarraitzen zuen, batzuetan, ingurukoek baino itxura zoriontsuagoz. Gainera, altuegi hitz egiten du, hori ez zaio inori gustatzen. Darabiltzan... [+]
The Department of Education doesn't understand why public employees have gone on strike. He's got to ask the LAB Syndicate. This union signed an agreement with the department in April 2023. Two years later they have also called for a strike because, unlike the previous ones, the... [+]
Erretiratu berri den lankide-ohi baten omenez, Historiako irakaslea. Bejondeizula!
Hezkuntza-legeek azpimarratzen dute zein garrantzitsua den ikasleengan pentsamendu kritikoa sustatzea. Baina irakasle-klaustroak, garai batean ideien eztabaidarako eta proposamenak... [+]
The liberal democracy of the Western countries has a growing appearance of a minimalist democracy. At the heart of the definition would be respect for changes in government through elections. The authoritarian variant of this was called competitive authoritarianism by political... [+]