Who will own the EU – the Superrich or the People of Europe?

Abstract

By focusing on the superrich, the question of ‘who will own the EU?’ must be addressed on various levels. First of all, it is a matter of assessing the extent of wealth concentration in Europe. Secondly, there are the theoretical problems of class analysis. Is a new ruling class based on these accumulation processes evolving in Europe? Thirdly we have to ask whether we are entering a new epoch or societal formation based on a quite unique mix of novel accumulation processes. Our focus centers on the second level: ‘Who does what (to whom)?’. We hold that postulating a European ‘ruling class’ is premature. We will try to describe the actors and profiteers of capitalism-based high-tech-feudalization of Europe in terms of a complex network of cooperating and competing elites. And we will use a new term to describe their networks: ‘monetary power complex’.