The EU’s Regulatory Retreat on ESG Risks Reigniting Financial Instability
The rush to “simplify” sustainability reporting ignores the lessons of 2008 and imperils Europe’s financial system.
Politics
Analysis and debate on European and national politics, democracy, the rule of law, parties and elections, and Europe’s place in the world.
What Jürgen Habermas Misses About American Democracy
Europe’s leading public intellectual offers a flawed, Eurocentric reading of US politics that obscures more than it reveals.
America’s New Age of Empire
Joseph E. Stiglitz thinks the rest of the world should plan for the worst and pursue a policy of containment of the US.
Why Social Democrats Must Stop Defending and Start Transforming
The centre-left’s defensive crouch has made it look like a guardian of an unfair status quo—radical reformism offers escape.
Appeasing Trump Makes Him More Dangerous by the Day
Europe’s leaders, paralysed by fear, are repeating the mistakes of the 1930s—and hastening their own irrelevance.
Can Hungary’s Opposition Finally Break Orbán’s Grip on Power?
After 15 years of Fidesz rule, an unlikely challenger threatens Viktor Orbán’s grip on Hungary but formidable obstacles remain.
Strength Without Weight: Ideas For A Post-Bureaucratic State
Geoff Mulgan reimagines the state as a lean, agile force that delivers power without the drag of bureaucracy.
Venezuela And The Decline Of American Democracy
Timothy Snyder sees a familiar connection between US domestic repression and escalating foreign aggression.
Project 2025: From Nightmare To Reality
Trump has followed the Heritage Foundation’s 920-page blueprint almost to the letter, and its real enemy is internationalist socialism.
Europe Must Re-Build Its Architecture—Now!
The US National Security Strategy confirms what Europeans already suspected: they must forge their own continental framework.
Europe’s Rail Renaissance: Why the Continent Must Finally Bet on Its Own Trains
The EU has the technology, the workers and the demand—now it needs the political will to turn its railway industry into a climate-policy success story.
Can the EU Still Escape the Authoritarian Pull of the USA?
Waning US leadership and China’s new world order compel Europe to unite or face marginalization.
The EU’s Largest Investment Programme Holds Lessons We Cannot Afford to Ignore
The Next Generation EU programme, despite sluggish implementation and limited coverage, reveals how industrial policy can drive green transition—if governments act.
Europe’s Foreign Policy Is Broken by Design—Here’s How to Fix It
Kaja Kallas is not the problem; the EU’s dysfunctional institutional architecture is crippling its global influence.
Chile’s Democracy Faces Its Gravest Test Since Pinochet
Eduardo Engel and Benjamín García
A far-right candidate threatens to dismantle decades of democratic progress in Latin America’s most celebrated success story.
Why European Universities Must Not Follow America’s
The American model has produced rentier capitalism and functional illiteracy—Europe’s universities must return to their civilising mission.