John Ryan, author at Social Europe

About John Ryan

Professor John Ryan is a Fellow at LSE Ideas (International Strategy and Diplomacy). He works as a senior Brexit adviser for private and public sector organisations.

The SPD May Deal The Final Blow To Angela Merkel’s Chancellorship

by John Ryan on 6th November 2018

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered another poor state election result on Sunday October 28 with 27 per cent, down 11.3 percentage points from the 2013 election in Hesse. Her grand coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD) slumped to 19.8 per cent of votes, down 10.9 percentage points, its worst showing since 1946. […]

Power Is Draining Away From Angela Merkel

by John Ryan on 2nd July 2018

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fourth election has turned into a heavily qualified victory. She is facing criticism over how she has handled the refugee crisis and some say that she should not have let in over one million refugees into the country. That sentiment is more widely felt in Germany than the public debate that […]

The European Central Bank: A Central Bank Operating In A Democratic Void

by John Ryan on 24th June 2016

To say that the Euro is facing existential threats is no exaggeration. The European single currency was hailed until not too long ago as an aspiring global reserve currency, second only to the US Dollar. But the Eurozone’s handling of the Greek debt crisis is putting the Euro’s future in question. The potential for Greece […]

The ECB’s Troubling Future Policy Conundrum

by John Ryan on 21st May 2014

In the German Constitutional Court ruling on the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme by the European Central Bank (ECB), judges said they were “inclined to regard the OMT decision as an Ultra Vires act”, adding that this “creates an obligation of German authorities to refrain from implementing it”. The court judgment has ruled that the […]

The Brexit endgame is upon us: deal or no deal, the transition period will end on January 1st. With a pandemic raging, for those countries most affected by Brexit the end of the transition could not come at a worse time. Yet, might the UK's withdrawal be a blessing in disguise? With its biggest veto player gone, might the European Pillar of Social Rights take centre stage? This book brings together leading experts in European politics and policy to examine social citizenship rights across the European continent in the wake of Brexit. Will member states see an enhanced social Europe or a race to the bottom?

'This book correctly emphasises the need to place the future of social rights in Europe front and centre in the post-Brexit debate, to move on from the economistic bias that has obscured our vision of a progressive social Europe.' Michael D Higgins, president of Ireland

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The macroeconomic effects of the EU recovery and resilience facility

This policy brief analyses the macroeconomic effects of the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). We present the basics of the RRF and then use the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to analyse the facility's macroeconomic effects. The simulations show, first, that if the funds are in fact used to finance additional public investment (as intended), public capital stocks throughout the EU will increase markedly during the time of the RRF. Secondly, in some especially hard-hit southern European countries, the RRF would offset a significant share of the output lost during the pandemic. Thirdly, as gains in GDP due to the RRF will be much stronger in (poorer) southern and eastern European countries, the RRF has the potential to reduce economic divergence. Finally, and in direct consequence of the increased GDP, the RRF will lead to lower public debt ratios—between 2.0 and 4.4 percentage points below baseline for southern European countries in 2023.

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Pensions in the age of Covid-19

Pension policy is not safe from the potentially dramatic consequences of the pandemic. But in terms of pension politics, the pandemic also represents a window of opportunity to rethink the political debate on the future reform agenda. This policy brief sheds light on the short- and long-term consequences of Covid-19 for pensions in Europe. Short-term measures have consisted of temporary reduction and/or deferral of social contributions, ad hoc benefits for at-risk elderly, and additional resources for the social-security budget. However, the longer-term effects are projected to be massive for financial sustainability and social adequacy. Although there seems to be a space for social spending to buffer the effects of the crisis, still pension policies recall old debates regarding the intergenerational clash between younger generations in need of greater financial support and older generations with unsustainable social (and pension) rights.

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Living, working and COVID-19

This report presents the findings of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, carried out by Eurofound to capture the far-reaching implications of the pandemic for the way people live and work across Europe. The survey was fielded online, among respondents who were reached via Eurofound’s stakeholders and social media advertising. Two rounds have been carried out: one in April, when most member states were in lockdown, and one in July, when society and economies were slowly re-opening. The findings from the first round reflected widespread emotional distress, financial concern and low trust in institutions. Levels of concern abated somewhat in the second round, particularly among groups of respondents benefiting from support measures implemented during the pandemic. The results underline stark differences between countries and between socioeconomic groups that point to growing inequalities. They confirm the upsurge in teleworking across all countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the report explores what this means for work–life balance and job quality.

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