Europe set for a fundamental clash of ideas (BBC Chief Correspondent)

[Ghost Dog]

... With anti-austerity parties having done well in Spain and Portugal there will be fresh pressure on Brussels to police the deficit targets. - (Oh yeah. Succinctly put. Pressure from whom, may one humbly inquire, m'luds? It certainly won't be pressure from a democratic majority.)

The big question for Europe's policymakers is whether it can escape so-called "secular stagnation" - a condition of negligible growth. - (Please re-think and re-define 'growth'. Current economic systems need re-wiring to take greater social and environmental realities into account.)

In 2016 watch sentiment incline further towards launching major investment projects. .. - (Indeed. Directed from above, or attending to the ideas of those below? What kind of projects, with what overall goals - propping up current neo-liberal lightly-regulated systems or starting to make necessary changes in preparation for the foreseeable future?)

PODEMOS:


... 2016 will see a further clash of ideas: a struggle between nationalists and globalists; a struggle between those who want to revive the power of the nation states and those who believe the answers lie in international bodies like the EU; a struggle between those who believe they are defending Europe's Judeo-Christian traditions (like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban) and those wedded to multiculturalism (Angela Merkel)... -(It does matter and it is essential to discern the differences between varieties of 'nationalism' and 'globalism'. But most MSM makes little effort in this direction, preferring black/white either/or dichotomies easier to dramatize.)

/(Much More)... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35160080

Have a happy year