Stuart Holland - Biography#

Born in 1940, Stuart Holland studied and taught history and political theory at Oxford, then became an adviser to Harold Wilson on European affairs and gained the consent of Charles De Gaulle for a 2nd British application to join the European Community on the basis of confederal rather than federal decision-making and mutual currency support. Resigning from 10 Downing Street when Wilson did not follow this through, he completed a doctorate in economics and drafted what in the early 1970s became the economic programme of the British Labour Party. From 1979 to 1989 he was a Labour Member of Parliament and shadow minister before leaving Westminster to help Jacques Delors shape EU policies for economic and social cohesion. His proposals to Delors for Eurobonds to offset the deflationary Maastricht debt and deficit conditions resurfaced during the Eurozone crisis and has attracted attention and support from anti-austerity parties and governments.

He has published or edited more than 15 books and 150 papers and articles.

Publications:#

Endorsements of Europe in Question - and what to do about it:

Yanis Varoufakis University of Athens and recently Finance Minister of Greece:
Stuart Holland on Europe is akin to Thomas Paine on the French Revolution combined with John Maynard Keynes on the Economic Consequences of the Peace. At a precociously young age, he persuaded Charles De Gaulle to agree to Britain’s second application to join the European Economic Community. As an advisor to Jack Delors he designed solutions to Europe’s current problems decades before they even surfaced. Now, with Europe in Question – and what to do about it he offers a new generation of readers unique insights on how Europe can be fixed – as well as warnings that it may not be.

Giuliano Amato, Former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Italy:
Members of the new Juncker Commission may have little time to read books rather than briefings, but should read this one. His high level experience and initiatives on Europe since the 1960s have been exceptional. His case that EIB bonds do not count on national debt nor need fiscal transfers and could recycle global surpluses counterparts the priority being given by Jean-Claude Juncker to an investment-led recovery of the EU.

Antonio Guterres, Former Prime Minister of Portugal and Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
His foes are inequality and ideological and political hegemony. His stress that EIB bonds can promote cohesion is backed by the extension of its terms of reference in the Amsterdam Special Action Programme to invest in health, education, urban renewal and safeguarding the environment. His case that the G20 should nominate a World Development Organization to liaise more effectively with UN institutions and multilateral development banks also is typically innovative.

Michel Rocard Former Prime Minister of France in Preface to the French Edition of The Modest Proposal 4.0 by Yanis Varoufakis, Stuart Holland and James Galbraith:
I love the title of this Modest Proposal. Not least since it neither is modest by ambition nor in intelligence. Its aim is to resolve the Eurozone crisis without directly confronting the sovereignty of any major state, and notably not that of Germany. It combines awareness of room for manoeuvre displaced by monetary authorities for decades and affirms that there can be solutions within existing institutional frameworks.