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Moral Maze

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Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze

Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze

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Moral Maze: Euro Crisis

28/09/2011

Euro Crisis

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Euro Crisis

Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk.

Do we have a moral responsibility to bail out the Greeks? Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk.

The moral hazard at the root of the Euro crisis is plain to see - especially if you're a German tax payer. The temptation to see the world being made up of morally upright savers and morally deficient debtors must be overwhelming when it's you that's going to have to foot the bill, possibly for generations to come. The view from that moral high ground may be clear and its certainty comforting, but this crisis has grown to such a scale that the moral limits of autonomy and sovereignty are being tested more than at any time in the history of the European project. Should we recognise that we do have a duty to those countries in trouble and that duty goes beyond any self-interest? Will Europe be stronger and everyone better off if we promote solidarity and set aside sectional national interests? Are those politicians, and they're not just German, who are dragging their feet over stumping up extra funds for a bail out, behaving badly? Or do we have to recognise that moral responsibility follows the contours of our emotions and there's no reason why the Germans, or any anyone else in Europe, should feel any moral solidarity or duty to the Greeks and the other countries on the edge of the financial abyss? 

Witnesses:
The Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell
Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe: 

Jamie Whyte - Philosopher and Journalist; currently Head of Research and Publishing at the management consultancy Oliver Wyman.
Christian Kellermann - Director of the Nordic Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Stockholm and author of "Decent Capitalism; A Blueprint for Reforming our Economies" 
Prof Marcus Kerber - Professor of Finance at Berlin Technical University.


Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Claire Fox, Kenan Malik, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.

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