Articles and opinions

Lunch & Learn 3.0 – One year of coronavirus – Enduring systemic crisis instead of a one-off caesura?

A 4-part crash course series on EU trade policy in times of crisis

Corona has been keeping us in suspense for a year. Time to take stock: The pandemic has once again put its finger on the wound of current societal challenges. It illustrates the grievances, not only the social and societal consequences of globalized markets and decades of liberalization policies, but also those of the climate crisis. At the same time, the urgently needed steps towards an alternative trade policy are becoming more visible than ever. Now is the time to use the discussion around a reorientation and to start a conversation together.

In four 45-minute sessions, from mid-April to early May, we want to shed light on different dimensions of the current crisis and starting points for alternatives. After a 20-minute short input, there will be the opportunity to ask questions.

After each session, you will have the opportunity to take part in a short quiz. Staying there is worth it! Of all the people who had the most correct answers after the four sessions, a great prize will be raffled!

The meetings in detail:

Lunch & Learn 1/4:

Corona as a fuel glass of multiple crises - will nothing be the same as before?

Thursday, 15.04., 12.00-12.45

The corona crisis has become a focal point for many other current crises: The vulnerability of a hyper-globalized economic system became apparent, the underlying social systems are far worse off in the fight against coronavirus, states are imposing insufficient climate protection measures for their coronavirus state aid, the gap between rich and poor is increasing - and while many see themselves as returning to normality, it is becoming increasingly clear that normality was already a multiple crisis. In an interactive discussion, we take a closer look at the various crises, their interaction with each other and collective solutions.

Discussants:

Alexandra Strickner, co-founder of Attac Austria

Nelly Grotefendt, Environment and Development Forum

Henrike Schaum, Chamber of Labour Vienna

Theresa Kofler, Acting differently

Lunch & Learn 2/4:

Climate crisis - coronavirus crisis: two crises that must not be played off against each other

Wednesday, 21.04., 12.00-12.45

Speaker: Fabian Flues, trading expert at PowerShift e.V.

The impact of the coronavirus is clear: Prevention and preparation is better than being surprised afterwards by the costs of a crisis. A globalization that only looks at production costs and ignores consequential costs, such as climate devastation and environmental destruction, urgently needs to be redesigned. But today's trade rules are not suitable for tackling a global emergency. They complicate necessary interventions in the economic order. Trade rules and treaties must be designed in such a way that states can preserve public goods such as public health and the climate. Fabian Flues, trade expert at PowerShift, will explain the role that EU trade policy can play here.

Lunch & Learn 3/4:

Profit from the pandemic: Health liberalisation through trade policy

Thursday, 29.04., 12.00-12.45

Global health is a human right and more important than ever, because this pandemic is not over until it is over for all of us. Medical preparations, i.e. medicines, vaccines and diagnostics, among other measures, are central to combating the pandemic. However, it can only be effectively contained if there is global cooperation. Currently, however, rich countries of the Global North in particular are blocking cooperation. And this blockade attitude has system. For us, Médecins Sans Frontières' Lara Dovifat looks behind the scenes of a global regime that is securing profits from the pandemic for large pharmaceutical companies, and not for the first time.

Speaker: Lara Dovifat, Campaign & Advocacy Advisor, International Access Campaign, Doctors Without Borders

Lunch & Learn 4/4:

Post Covid-19 from global to regional value chains? Opportunities and limits using the example of the medical and pharmaceutical industry

Wednesday, 05.05. 12.00-12.45

Corona has brought to light the disadvantages of long and concentrated value chains. Since then, buzzwords such as ‘regionalisation’ and ‘regional added value’ have been on everyone's lips. These approaches are intended to provide answers to the coronavirus, climate and social crises. At the same time, the debate also reveals boundaries: Regionally and nationally is not the same, not every product can reasonably be produced in Europe, production in Europe costs more and then how do the raw materials come to Europe? Using the example of the medical and pharmaceutical industry, Werner Raza, head of the Austrian Research Foundation for International Development (ÖFSE), will point out and discuss possibilities and limits of regional value chains.

Speaker: Werner Raza, Director of the Austrian Research Foundation for International Development (ÖFSE)