Last year’s agreement on an EU recovery package was widely celebrated. This year its inadequacy will sink in.
Most popular
Spain: more stable employment contracts
The Supreme Court has modified its jurisprudence on subcontracting, limiting the scope for abuse of temporary contracts.
Unsplendid isolation: Britain after ‘Brexit’
Paul Mason writes that a Biden US presidency allied to an EU pursuing ‘strategic autonomy’ leaves a ‘sovereign’ UK with a bit-part role.
Capital and ideology: interview with Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty tells Robin Wilson how wealth and power can be transferred from capital to workers and citizens.
Gig workers’ rights and their strategic litigation
A window of opportunity has opened up to utilise EU law on health and safety to advance the rights of ‘gig’ workers in domestic courts.
The infrastructural power of platform capitalism
We can’t go back to a world without labour platforms, so their proprietary digital infrastructure must be recreated as a public good.
Politics
‘The day of liberation is a bit like a second birthday for me’
Knut Dethlefsen offers a personal reflection on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Unsplendid isolation: Britain after ‘Brexit’
Paul Mason writes that a Biden US presidency allied to an EU pursuing ‘strategic autonomy’ leaves a ‘sovereign’ UK with a bit-part role.
Belarus needs more than the Sakharov Prize
Strengthening of civil society, construction of democratic institutions and economic support must all figure in an EU agenda for a post-Lukashenka Belarus.
What saved American democracy?
Democracy in the United States survived the assault by Donald Trump and his supporting mob. But why it survived raises questions awkward for some.
Economy
Supplying critical goods: lessons from the pandemic
Security of supply for medical and pharmaceutical goods must become a high political priority—with industrial policies promoting reshoring.
An end to wage-dumping in the German meat industry?
The German meat industry is being pushed off its low road of migrant-labour exploitation towards regulation and potential collective agreement.
Time to put an end to union-busting
Trade union rights are human rights and must be protected in EU law.
Europe’s ‘long-Covid’ economic frailty
Last year’s agreement on an EU recovery package was widely celebrated. This year its inadequacy will sink in.
Food-delivery riders, algorithms and autonomy
A ruling by a court in Bologna has undermined platforms’ claims to impartial algorithms and autonomous contractors.
Society
A rail renaissance for Europe
The European Year of Rail can support the Green Deal and sustainable recovery. Europe needs more international trains with easier booking.
Big Tech media and the EU’s weak reed of ‘competition’
The attack on the US Capitol revealed the dangers of Big Tech media platforms—but envisaged EU competition laws won’t fix them.
Must try harder: recovering from educational inequality
School closures during the pandemic have hit socially excluded students hard. The EU needs to ensure every child can reach their potential.
Culture, creativity and coronavirus: time for EU action
The pandemic has highlighted a longer-term failure adequately to address the working conditions of cultural professionals in Europe.
Ecology
No time to spare for the Paris climate promise
Having squandered past opportunities and shirked previous commitments, we now must start making up for lost time.
Legal hurdles facing a green and just transition
The irony of genuinely ‘free trade’ is only regulation enables it. Europe cannot lead the ecological transition without recognising this.
How public development banks can help nature
Public development banks will be critical to global efforts to ‘build back better’. They should complement their climate investments with nature-based goals.
Trade unions and climate change: the jobs-versus-environment dilemma
Unions can be torn between mitigating climate change tomorrow and saving jobs today. A significant Just Transition Fund could ease that dilemma.
