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Avatar photoValerio Alfonso Bruno

Valerio Alfonso Bruno is a research fellow at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He is co-author with James F Downes and Alessio Scopelliti  of The Rise of the Radical Right in Italy: A New Balance of Power in the Right-wing Camp (Ibidem and Columbia University Press, 2024).

Italy: a ‘post-fascist’ assault on democratic checks

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

The Meloni government in Italy is betting everything on radical and polarising constitutional reforms.

Italy’s election: a far-right high, on a low budget

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

The honeymoon for a Meloni-led, right-wing government may prove to be shortlived.

Draghi’s resignation: what next?

Valerio Alfonso Bruno and Vittorio Emanuele Parsi

Only one political figure will benefit from chaos in Italy. He is in Moscow, not Rome.

Ukraine and Europe’s defence spending

Valerio Alfonso Bruno and Adriano Cozzolino

Europe’s reaction to the Ukraine crisis will do much to define what kind of Europe it is to be.

Matteo Salvini’s League and the price of unbridled populism

Valerio Alfonso Bruno and Vittorio Emanuele Parsi

The strength of populism is its simple message that ‘the people’ are traduced by an ‘elite’ linked to ‘foreign’ interlopers. That’s also its weakness.

Science and politics: a new alliance?

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

The pandemic has brought science and expertise to the fore in the public sphere, as an anchor of trust—and put the populists on the back foot.

Lobbying In The EU: An Often Unholy Alliance

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

With movies such as Inside Job and Thank you for Smoking or TV series like House of Cards, the US model of influencing decisions and

Towards The Disappearance Of Politics?

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

The crisis of political debate within contemporary democracies Exactly sixty years ago, in 1958, Hannah Arendt published The Human Condition. In her philosophical masterpiece, Arendt

The Production Of Fear. European Democracies In The Age Of Populisms And Technocracies

Valerio Alfonso Bruno

Populisms and Technocracies: mastering the art of evoking fears In Europe, home to one of the most ambitious political and institutional experiments in recent history,

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

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The European Employment and Social Rights Forum was back in Brussels and online on 3-4 March 2026

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🇪🇺 Building a Resilient, Equitable EU Health Union: The S&D Blueprint


From securing pharmaceutical autonomy and guaranteeing universal access to care (the European Health Guarantee) to combatting non-communicable diseases and closing the Gender Health Gap. Read the S&D Group in the European Parliament Position Paper demanding that health becomes a priority across all EU policies.

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Growth and employment monitor

Based on recent research – notably from the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), this Special Brief outlines key evidence on the economic, employment and social situation in the EU and actions needed to reinforce the EU by ensuring “Investment for a vibrant European economy and quality jobs”

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Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.
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The Great Unravelling

Read the book "The Great Unravelling"

The book "The Great Unravelling", edited by Patrick Diamond and Ania Skrzypek, delves into the impact of growing economic interdependence, free trade and technological change, which has led to new forms of political polarisation that seek to capitalise on and exploit the resentments fuelled by the rise of globalisation.
Featuring a stellar line-up of policymakers, experts and academics, the book assesses whether a viable compromise between globalisation and social progress remains achievable.

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