Social Europe

Non-EU migrant workers—the ties that bind

The European Union stands at a fork in the road when it comes to its treatment of external migrant workers.

How the ECB’s ‘deposit facility’ subsidises banks

David Hollanders

Banks profit from the European Central Bank´s interest-rate policy at the expense of taxpayers.

All work and low pay—Europe’s migrant workforce

To really end labour shortages, Ankita Anand writes, Europe must transform its contract with the global south.

The case for a European prize for art

Europeans are living through an extraordinary historical moment. Great contemporary works of art help them grasp it.

Ursula von der Leyen—the accidental president

Alberto Alemanno

The State of the European Union address reflected a union buffeted by a series of crises.

Job quality: a sine qua non, not just nice to have

Barbara Gerstenberger

Elevating job quality by resourcing workers better is pivotal to addressing today’s workplace and societal challenges.

Europe’s food systems—long past their expiry date

Isabel Paliotta and Ben Snelson

To counter the threats posed to climate, biodiversity, human health and societal wellbeing, food systems need urgent transformation.

Air quality critical for social justice and the environment

Jana Hrckova and Daniel Lissoni

New European air laws can save lives and help the climate. A key vote takes place in the European Parliament today.

Feeling the heat: Europe’s firefighters need support

Chloe Kenny and Paola Panzeri

Firefighter numbers have been cut, when investment—especially in prevention—is key to stemming Europe’s wildfires.

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.

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The four transitions and the missing one

Europe is at a crossroads, painfully navigating four transitions (green, digital, economic and geopolitical) at once but missing the transformative and ambitious social transition it needs. In other words, if the EU is to withstand the storm, we do not have the luxury of abstaining from reflecting on its social foundations, of which intermittent democratic discontent is only one expression. It is against this background that the ETUI/ETUC publishes its annual flagship publication Benchmarking Working Europe 2023, with the support of more than 70 graphs and a special contribution from two guest editors, Professors Kalypso Nikolaidïs and Albena Azmanova.

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Eurofound Talks: housing

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s senior research manager, Hans Dubois, about the issues that feed into housing insecurity in Europe and the actions that need to be taken to address them. Together, they analyse findings from Eurofound’s recent Unaffordable and inadequate housing in Europe report, which presents data from Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents on various indicators of housing security and living conditions.

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The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.

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