debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
In a party political broadcast of the UK Labour Party (see below), Labour leader Ed Miliband announces a tougher stance on immigration. Stating that the last Labour government got it wrong he called for ‘maximum transitional controls’ for new EU member states. This has to be seen against the backdrop of the irrational campaign that somehow [...]
Uncertainties about the EU’s future are undermining mainstream parties throughout Europe. In central and eastern Europe politicians can no longer sell the european model of liberal reforms when that model is itself in crisis. Although only three EU members in central and eastern Europe (CEE), Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia, have adopted the Euro, the knock-on [...]
A banner unfurled on the Leaning Tower of Pisa reads No alla riforma (of education). Portugal virtually comes to a halt as a result of a general strike that has united the bitterly divided union movement against austerity measures. British students trash the headquarters of the ruling Conservative Party in protest at budget cuts. In [...]
The welfare state in Europe is under attack – and what’s the news? In the past decades, we have seen both the gradual erosion of the welfare state’s financial basis as well as fundamental structural reforms that got to the core of welfare provision. This transformation has been accompanied by an intense debate about the [...]
The European Union, in its founding treaties, set itself the aim of economic, social and territorial cohesion.[i] This aim is generally interpreted to mean that the EU will strive to reduce income inequality within its area of integration. Reducing inequality is, as recent studies continue to show, an important and just goal since inequality blights [...]
We could easily agree that the plight of the Roma, as accurately and alarmingly portrayed by George Soros on this Social Europe website, remains a human tragedy of unprecedented historical proportions. The Roma’s unremitting story of poverty, discrimination, (self-)marginalization, expulsion and persecution, notably in the barbaric Nazi-years, is a grim reminder of how people treat other people ‘because [...]
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