| We speak with Dr Heiner Flassbeck, the former Director of the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies at UNCTAD in Geneva, and, former deputy finance minister of Germany.
A prominent economist, Flassbeck has been at the forefront of critiquing myths about the financial crisis, and is an unparalleled expert in the particular challenges of the Eurozone. Flassbeck argues that the most pressing issue facing the European economies is the need to raise wage levels particularly in Germany where the Bundesbank is coming under increasing pressure to reflate the economy. This is essential as the Eurozone and EU economies continue to slow, interest rates at 0.15 per cent and youth unemployment is just under 25 per cent (higher than 50 per cent in Greece and Spain). Flassbeck also tackles the myth that the UK economy is growing due to austerity arguing the UK Government’s policies have failed. |
Heiner Flassbeck (born 12 December 1950) is a German economist and public intellectual. From 1998 to 1999 he was a State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium der Finanzen) where he also advised former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine on a reform of the European Monetary System. He became the Chief of Macroeconomics and Development of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva in January 2003, a position that he held until resigning at the end of 2012 due to his age.
Tags:
