politics, economy and employment & labour
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy and employment & labour. This archive brings together Social Europe articles on political issues.
The Pegida demonstrations that took place in Dresden and some other big German cities have attracted a significant amount of attention in the media across Europe and beyond. Uncomfortable questions such as whether the sudden and unexpected outpouring of large-scale discontent means that right-wing tendencies are once again on the rise in Europe’s most populous […]
A German television presenter recently broadcast an edited video of me, before I was Greece’s finance minister, giving his country the middle-finger salute. The fallout has shown the potential impact of an alleged gesture, especially in troubled times. Indeed, the kerfuffle sparked by the broadcast would not have happened before the 2008 financial crisis, which […]
Pegida’s rise has been watched with much attention in Poland. The phenomenon tends to be regarded as a reaction to globalisation and a way of fuelling debate about its discontents. Polish observers note that although Pegida’s leadership is of dubious reputation, its demonstrations attract many disenchanted members of the middle class. Pegida is therefore seen […]
In a recently published book, my co-author Rizwanul Islam and I suggest that the notion of inclusive development should have the following attributes: (1) rapid, stable and sustainable per capita GDP growth; (2) sustained decline in income poverty; (3) sustained improvement in human development indicators, such as health, nutrition and education; (4) growth of productive […]
The people of Britain are poised for one of the biggest decisions in our history. In 2017, while the rest of Europe celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Treaty in Rome, I believe Britain will leave the European Union unless there is a major change of direction in British politics. The most important change in […]
Pegida may have caught everyone by surprise in Germany, but its spirit is unfortunately all too familiar to French people. With the Front National’s enduring presence and future prospects, anti-Islam, ant-immigration, anti-establishment views of the world have been casting a long shadow over French politics for more than thirty years now. This may paradoxically explain […]
The European Social Dialogue this year celebrates its 30th anniversary (1985-2015). On 6 March, to mark the occasion and provide new impetus, the European Commission organised a major conference. The six conference workshops were indicative of the direction envisaged by the Commission. The first was social partner involvement in economic governance and the European Semester, […]
How did the troika come about formally? In 2010 it became apparent that the European constitution offers no clues as to how one should handle financial crises on this scale. So, instead of setting in train the democratic procedures designed to do this, EU law swiftly went out of the window and one seized on […]
Does the Commission take unemployment as a serious challenge? What future for the Europe 2020 strategy? A few comments on European Commission: “Results of the public consultation on the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” This new note from the European Commission is clearly a step further down the road towards marginalising […]
With no lasting solution yet found for dealing with Greek debt, and economies in the Eurozone continuing to suffer from weak growth, how can Europe finally solve the problems brought on by the financial crisis? In an interview with EUROPP’s editor Stuart Brown, Philippe Legrain discusses the policy failures at the root of the crisis, the need […]
Snared by geopolitical interests, post-9/11 interventions have too easily been captured by leading states. A robust law enforcement process must serve enforcers of law, not agents of geopolitical interests. 9/11 was a crime against the US and a crime against humanity. The trauma of the planes crashing into the World Trade Towers will remain an […]
“We are the people.” Like other right-wing populists across Europe, Germany’s Pegida is the latest to advance this Manichean view of societal change. The ‘Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident’ claim to be reacting to the alleged threat of Überfremdung: that indigenous culture is being tainted by too many foreign influences. The last […]
