Critical Political Economy of the European Polycrisis

Edited by Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK and Vincenzo Maccarrone, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy

‘Critical Political Economy of the European Polycrisis is a clear-eyed and incisive account of how the multiple overlapping crises facing European capitalism are exacerbating the inherent contradictions of the European project. The critical political economy lens used by the authors allows them to highlight the challenges facing Europe's elites as they attempt to resolve these crises without upsetting the balance of power within European civil society. An important contribution to the understanding of capitalism in Europe and the institutions tasked with managing it.’

• Contents1 Contesting European integration in times of polycrisis: anintroduction 1Andreas Bieler and Vincenzo MaccarronePART I CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THEPOLYCRISIS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION2 Towards a critical political economy of migration, borders,and racism in the European Union 16Nikolai Huke3 Europe’s new fiscal governance in context: a state-theoreticalperspective 32Magnus Ryner4 The new EU industrial policy mitigating the investment crisis:crowding in financial capital and crowding out democracyand labour 46Angela Wigger5 Mandatory corporate sustainability due diligence and itslimitations: the persistence of unequal exchange 62Riccardo Fornasari and Vincenzo Maccarrone6 The housing crisis and the contradictions of neoliberalresidential capitalism in Europe: a critical approach 76Giuseppe Montalbano and Lindsay B. FlynnPART II CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THEPOLYCRISIS IN AND BEYOND THE EUROPEAN UNION7 A feminist political economy approach to affordable housingand social reproduction in the polycrisis 93Stefanie Wöhl8 Healthcare systems commodification between national andEU economic governance: Greece, Italy, and Romania fromthe economic to the COVID-19 crisis (2008–2022) 107Costanza Galanti and Stella Christou9 Crises, conditionality, and the commodification of localpublic services: the case of Italy 127Darragh Golden10 Garment-footwear industry and the devaluation of labour:uneven and combined production networks in Europe’speripheries 142Francesco BagnardiPART III CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THEEUROPEAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS11 The EU between neoliberal and reformist green finance: aregulationist and global perspective 159Ewa Dziwok and Johannes Jäger12 Solving the European crisis in social reproduction?Sustainability and justice in the European semester after theGreen Deal 173Rosalind Cavaghan13 Derogating, de-risking, and pooling: processes of EnergyUnion (dis)integration 190Rubén VezzoniPART IV CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EUROPEANFOREIGN POLICY14 Greening the European economy at the expense of otherworld regions? Tracing the EU’s quest for green hydrogen inChile 206Julia Eder and Jakob Rammer15 Driving unequal exchange: EU ‘free trade’ policy and the EU:Mercosur negotiations 222Andreas Bieler16 Re-routing globalization: polycrisis, Europe’s decline and thecrisis of Atlanticism 237Alan W. Cafruny and Vassilis K. Fouskas17 Turkey’s EU membership debate within a historicalconjuncture of European polycrisis 253Elif UzgörenPART V CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE RISEOF THE FAR RIGHT IN EUROPE18 The road to God-knows where? The polycrisis and theEuropean radical right 272Owen Worth19 A lasting legacy? A critical political economy perspective onBerlusconism and its afterlives 287Daniela Caterina, Adriano Cozzolino, Gemma Gasseau andDavide Monaco20 Constructing illiberal counterhegemony: Orbán’stransnational project as consequence and cause of Europe’spolycrisis 302Jasper P. Simons, Miklós Sebők and Ilona Szabó21 Conclusion: where next for the EU? 317Andreas Bieler and Vincenzo Maccarrone