debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The current crisis of legitimacy of the EU can be traced in a path-dependent fashion to its roots in the aftermath of World War II. Subsequent historical distance has elided together the anti-fascist popular consensus across the continent after the defeat and delegitimisation of Nazism with the elite integration ‘project’ which came to fruition in [...]
Is there any topic less sexy than the ‘social dimension’? Even defining what it is can be tricky as there are many definitions out there so it tends to get mixed up with other terms. It is often used as the equivalent of ‘Social Europe’ or the ’European Social Model’. The debate also pops up [...]
Watch Professor Martin Seeleib-Kaiser, Head of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University, discuss the social dimension of the European Union. This video is part of the EU Social Dimension expert sourcing project jointly organised by SEJ, the ETUC, IG Metall, the Hans Böckler Stiftung, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Lasaire.
Europe is in deep crisis and people are losing more and more trust. According to the EU-Eurobarometer, distrust runs at 53% in Italy, 56% in France, 59% in Germany, 69% in the UK and 72% in Spain. As the EU has lost the support of two thirds of its citizens, The Guardian recently asked: “does it [...]
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has, for many reasons, always been supportive of the European project, but primarily because this regional integration model aimed not only at economic integration but was also meant to foster social progress and full employment. We have stressed this point on many occasions over the years. The response from [...]
The European Union (EU) is in motion and a lot has changed in recent years. Having been in constant crisis mode since the Eurozone crisis broke out, the Union has been on the back foot for a rather long time. In the wake of this plight, it has become less and less clear what the [...]
There is no social dimension if the regime of economic governance does not change. Nor will the idea of placing social benchmarking alongside the existing system of economic governance be sufficient to change things in a fundamental way (see here). In order to really control economic governance and its instruments of economic torture, clear limits [...]
The Return of Social Europe Over the next few weeks, European politicians will be designing a roadmap to build a ‘genuine’ and stronger Economic Union. The social dimension, including social dialogue, is one of the four chapters in this roadmap. More detail on this four point roadmap is provided in a letter of 1st [...]
Watch EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor discuss the challenge of a Social Europe against the backdrop of the reforms the EU is likely to undergo in the coming years. This talk was held at a conference in Madrid on 28th January 2013 marking the 40th anniversary of ETUC.
For almost three years the focus of discussion and policy action in the European Union, and especially the so-called euro zone, has been unrelentingly reactionary, bank bailouts, budget cuts, contracting economies and growing unemployment. Such depressing news and reactionary politics have driven many, myself included, to doubt the wisdom of ever having started down this [...]
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