Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Maximising the potential of the European Green Deal

Jon Bloomfield and Fred Steward 30th July 2021

The European Green Deal doesn’t deserve uncritical support—but nor does it need sniping from the sidelines.

European Green Deal,EGD
Jon Bloomfield

All 27 European Union member states have ratified the legislation enabling the €750 billion pandemic recovery programme, Next Generation EU, based on the European Green Deal (EGD), to go ahead. For the first time, the EU is empowered to issue debt worth several hundred billion euro to finance common expenditure, with a specific focus on a green-led, digital recovery. This represents a breakthrough shedding decades of ordoliberal orthodoxy.

Yet there are sections of the left, environmental and social movements, as well as academics, who pour cold water on the EGD. On openDemocracy, Alfons Perez complained that it is ‘not questioning the fundamental structures of our existing economic model’. And the influential Barcelona-based non-governmental organisation ODG protests that NextGenerationEU will be ‘doing more harm than good’.

European Green Deal,EGD
Fred Steward

Its criticism that ‘funds will firstly be spent on modernising conventional sectors’ rather than on ‘investment in public services’ misses the central focus of climate strategy, which requires urgent reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions from the key industries of energy, transport and food. Whatever the merits of replacing capitalism or extending quality social services, the overwhelming priority in arresting climate change and meeting the Paris Agreement goals must be near-term change in our prevailing business sectors.

Yet the EGD has crucial features progressives should be defending. It expresses an innovative policy mix, with new political opportunities for promoting the transformation of unsustainable socio-technical systems, including also buildings. It recognises these transformations have social costs and that workers and communities directly affected need to be protected in a ‘just transition’.

Most importantly, the EGD is part of a wider turn to active government after an era of unremitting neoliberal dogma—a trend reinforced by the pandemic and the turn to Keynesian economics by the new United States administration. Indeed, the label itself, with its 1930s ‘New Deal’ resonance, celebrates public investment for a shared purpose.

Decades of work

This changed policy landscape hasn’t just materialised out of thin air. It’s the culmination of decades of detailed policy and campaigning work by specialist agencies, environmental NGOs, political parties, trade unions and civil-society activists. It offers potential new spaces for the pursuit of transformative climate innovations which are socially inclusive, job intensive, locally devolved and internationally collaborative.

Remoteness from these realities is however expressed by three academics from Lund University, who claim that the EGD forecloses democratic channels and does not allow the opening of ‘sites of struggle’, reflecting what they take to be the EU’s embedded neoliberalism and depoliticisation of politics. This displays no recognition of the sharp political struggles that brought about the EGD and Next Generation EU—facing down the ‘frugal four’ governments which wanted to stick to fiscal orthodoxy and avoid the EU assuming common debt.

Of course the EGD has limitations. It is a product of the existing balance of forces within European politics. The welcome marginalisation of climate denialism in Europe—though not among US Republicans—facilitates those large corporations which increasingly see the move to low carbon as crucial to their business prospects and, with the EGD and national recovery plans, scent a big opportunity.

The European Commission has set ambitious targets. The temptation is thus to rely on a ‘mega-projects’ shortcut, in which multinational companies eager to show their newfound commitment to green technologies and electric vehicles promise speedy impact. The critics’ fear of the risks of a greenwash ripoff are not unfounded.

Their proposals to exclude big incumbent companies from EGD funds are however politically unrealistic and oversimplify the messy dynamics of transition. While old-guard business will not lead the net-zero transition, sections are likely to remain part of its architecture. Yet if the EGD were only leveraging a transition of convenience for the corporate incumbents this would be a sadly diminished outcome. Some sort of public-private balance needs to be struck, with speedy roll-out of EV charging points and investment in battery giga-factories, green hydrogen and tidal power all playing a role.

Critical issues

On three issues the critics have substance. First, given the allocation of significant recovery funds, evidence of real environmental benefit is essential and support for sustainable innovation should be combined with policy pressure on the old fossil-fuel system. Secondly, a diverse innovation portfolio must not be overwhelmingly top-down and technocratic but genuinely embrace bottom-up initiatives, including in buildings renovation, multi-mode mobility and agro-ecological food systems. And third—and key to everything—is ensuring the participation of a wide spectrum of innovation actors in the political decisions on the EGD.

Plans should not simply endorse submissions from powerful corporate players: revival of the naivety towards the corporate sector of the ‘third way’ era of Tony Blair is not what Europe needs. We need climate innovation at scale but this can be achieved by a diffuse range of similar (and broadly replicable and innovative) actions, rather than over-concentrated giant projects. And allocation of funds should be devolved to regional and local agencies, not handled by management consultancies.

The EGD’s crucial importance in the campaign to tackle climate change is to open up a huge space for political engagement by regional and city authorities, small and medium-sized businesses, trade unions and civil-society organisations, to present a wider variety of proposals for transformation in towns and neighbourhoods across Europe. Social democrats and others on the left, greens and liberals need to combine to pursue this opportunity.

It is also important to work with those on the centre-right and in business who recognise the planetary dangers posed by climate change. On housing, energy and mobility the EGD and national recovery plans will require broad alliances to collate the expertise to drive change. This would spread new jobs across regions, create resilient local economies and build innovation capacity for the longer term.

Political realignment

There is anxiety that the recovery era will be limited and followed by renewed austerity. But it is too early to judge and a longer-term political realignment remains to be won. The enduring conservatism of the Christian-democrat candidate for the German chancellorship, Armin Laschet, can be contrasted with the recent appearance by the Greek centre-right prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with his Spanish socialist counterpart, Pedro Sánchez. Success with the EGD could propel the EU towards a more pronounced break from neoliberalism and greater fiscal integration.

Progressives need to counter purism and defeatism. The Lund academics conclude with a famous quote from Antonio Gramsci, that the old world is dying but the new cannot yet be born. They and others would do better to combine his ‘pessimism of the intelligence’ with his ‘optimism of the will’.

Jon Bloomfield
Jon Bloomfield

Jon Bloomfield is a writer, European policy specialist, environmental practitioner and author of Our City: Migrants and the Making of Modern Birmingham. He is an honorary research fellow at the University of Birmingham.

European Green Deal,EGD
Fred Steward

Fred Steward is professor emeritus at the Policy Studies Institute, University of Westminster and a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u4219834664e04a 8a1e 4ee0 a6f9 bbc30a79d0b1 2 Closing the Chasm: Central and Eastern Europe’s Continued Minimum Wage ClimbCarlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar
u421983467f bb39 37d5862ca0d5 0 Ending Britain’s “Brief Encounter” with BrexitStefan Stern
u421983485 2 The Future of American Soft PowerJoseph S. Nye
u4219834676d582029 038f 486a 8c2b fe32db91c9b0 2 Trump Can’t Kill the Boom: Why the US Economy Will Roar Despite HimNouriel Roubini
u42198346fb0de2b847 0 How the Billionaire Boom Is Fueling Inequality—and Threatening DemocracyFernanda Balata and Sebastian Mang

Most Popular Articles

startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer
u421983467 2a24 4c75 9482 03c99ea44770 3 Trump’s Trade War Tears North America Apart – Could Canada and Mexico Turn to Europe?Malcolm Fairbrother
u4219834676e2a479 85e9 435a bf3f 59c90bfe6225 3 Why Good Business Leaders Tune Out the Trump Noise and Stay FocusedStefan Stern
u42198346 4ba7 b898 27a9d72779f7 1 Confronting the Pandemic’s Toxic Political LegacyJan-Werner Müller
u4219834676574c9 df78 4d38 939b 929d7aea0c20 2 The End of Progess? The Dire Consequences of Trump’s ReturnJoseph Stiglitz

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

What kind of impact is artificial intelligence (AI) having, or likely to have, on the way we work and the conditions we work under? Discover the latest issue of HesaMag, the ETUI’s health and safety magazine, which considers this question from many angles.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
How are minimum wage levels changing in Europe?

In a new Eurofound Talks podcast episode, host Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound expert Carlos Vacas Soriano about recent changes to minimum wages in Europe and their implications.

Listeners can delve into the intricacies of Europe's minimum wage dynamics and the driving factors behind these shifts. The conversation also highlights the broader effects of minimum wage changes on income inequality and gender equality.

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

KU Leuven advertisement

The Politics of Unpaid Work

This new book published by Oxford University Press presents the findings of the multiannual ERC research project “Researching Precariousness Across the Paid/Unpaid Work Continuum”,
led by Valeria Pulignano (KU Leuven), which are very important for the prospects of a more equal Europe.

Unpaid labour is no longer limited to the home or volunteer work. It infiltrates paid jobs, eroding rights and deepening inequality. From freelancers’ extra hours to care workers’ unpaid duties, it sustains precarity and fuels inequity. This book exposes the hidden forces behind unpaid labour and calls for systemic change to confront this pressing issue.

DOWNLOAD HERE FOR FREE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641