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