TOWARDS A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CENTURY?

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In parallel, following the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, the ‘shock therapy’ of market fundamentalism and the convic‐ tion that accession to the European Union and other communities was paved by privatisation, meant a new precariat in central and eastern Europe would blame both the past and the transformation for FOREWORD vii their misfortune—and incline to entrust the populists with their. [...] YOU COULD DESCRIBE the Recovery and Resilience Facility which the European Union established in the context of the pandemic as a venture in the direction of ‘EuroKeynesianism’. [...] In July 2020 there was agreement in the European Council and the European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed on the legislative proposal of the European Commission to put in place the Recovery and Resilience programme. [...] When the Spanish socialist party took over the government, we had a commit‐ ment to review the labour market and the revision of the labour market was approved at the beginning of this year, because this reform was part of the conditions that the Spanish government committed to in the context of the recovery plan. [...] At the European level, the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, of which you are of course a member, has been seeking to uphold the rule of law in the context of episodes, particu‐ larly in Poland and Hungary, where the rule of law has been abro‐ gated.