Social Europe

A first tango in Glasgow?

A new transatlantic relationship is critical to any hope of global realisation of the goals of the Paris agreement.

Time to tackle the tax dodgers

With some bailed out companies continuing to pay dividends, the focus should shift to making big corporations contribute to the cost of recovery.

Why EU action on minimum wages is so controversial—yet so necessary

The opening of debate on minimum wages across the EU has precipitated a Nordic union reaction against incursions on collective bargaining.

World Economic Forum: towards sustainability with neoliberal recipes?

The World Economic Forum has recognised intellectually that Scandinavian social models offer an alternative to rising inequality. It just can’t…

Work-life balance: from legal texts to real progress for working people

Taking the EU directive on work-life balance off the page will require determined trade-union efforts, including in challenging prejudices.

Portuguese elections: Socialists expected to return to power but without a majority

The Portuguese governmental ‘contraption’ has turned out to be surprisingly enduring—so much so that it may face another term…

Austria’s smoking gun: Strache, ‘Ibiza-gate’ and ‘Saint’ Sebastian

Even such huge scandals, which lead to the dissolution of a government, resignation of a vice-chancellor and the disclosure of massive corruptio…

Creating social legitimacy in the EU

The EU will only survive long-term if it builds its future agenda on broad public support through open dialogue and innovative consultation.

?Gendering’ the EU budget

There is a clear case for making gender equality a more visible part of the EU budgetary process.

Workers change the world

The president of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament reflects on her retirement at the forthcoming elections and on the battles to come.

A message for May Day

Mayday, mayday: the leader of the European trade union movement warns of the threat from the populists in the coming EP elections.

Are ILO labour standards up for sale?

In its centenary year, the International Labour Organization received a poisoned chalice from the United Nations—an institutional reform which c…

From Europe-as-project to a real political community

Continuing our Europe 2025 series, Marija Bartl argues that the EU-as-project notion foregrounds market integration and forestalls a European pu…

Europe’s destiny is at stake

Léonce Bekemans initiates a ‘Europe 2025’ series, which will look beyond the May elections to the challenges ahead, with a call for a mobilising…

Jarosław Kaczyński’s Jewish Question

The Polish government has provoked yet another international crisis, this time by adopting a law that is ostensibly meant to combat the phrase “…

Economic Austerity And Outward Migration

Since independence in 1991 the Baltic states have implemented neoliberal economic policies with weak social systems and income and wealth distri…

Baltic Austerity And Euro Area Contagion

I lived in Riga, the Latvian capital, from 1999 to 2003 just before the Baltic States became European Union member states in 2004. EU membership…

A Big Legacy: Wealth In Europe

The material prosperity of people consists of two main resources: income and wealth. The possession of wealth, in particular, offers extended co…