German Capitalism Is the Dominant Industrial Centre of Europe

To understand why the European Union exists and how it is changing due to the financial crisis and the war in Ukraine, Rania Khalek was joined by Costas Lapavitsas, a professor of economics at SOAS, author of “The Left Case Against the EU” and a former Syriza MP. He also has a forthcoming book out in 2023 called “The State of Capitalism” published by Verso Books. 

Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts.

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TIME CODES: 

0:00 Intro

2:08 What is the EU?

6:24 What happens if Ukraine joins the EU?

10:32 Evolution of European left’s view of the EU

18:48 EU as an anti-democratic arrangement 

26:41 EU creates European periphery and core

30:55 Common currency: the Euro

33:42 How Germany came out on top

39:38 Germany’s conditional hegemony 

45:16 American hegemony over Europe

52:05 Freedom of capital to move cheap labor 

1:03:18 Far right vs the EU?

1:08:25 How the left responds

1:12:06 The state of capitalism today