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Politics

Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on political issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.

A Changing Europe: Strategic Autonomy and Security in 2025 and Beyond

Almut Möller

Strategic autonomy, internal divisions, and external threats: Can the EU adapt and lead in an era of profound change?

Britain’s Brexit reality check: Why the majority now want back in

Polly Toynbee

Every UK poll now shows a majority longing to rejoin the EU – but can Britain overcome its Brexit scars?

Europe’s Challenge in a New Era of Shift and Shock

Brigid Laffan

The EU faces immense geopolitical and economic challenges in a multipolar world.

Belgian workers against austerity and for social justice

Marie-Hélène Ska

Today, on 13th of January 2025, Belgian trade unions demonstrate in Brussels against austerity measures.

Britain at a Crossroads: financial turmoil meets political threats

Paul Mason

Keir Starmer’s government finds itself on the frontline of a global power struggle.

Austria’s Far-Right Revival: How the ÖVP’s U-Turn is Paving the Way for Radical Leadership

Gabriela Greilinger

The Austrian far-right FPÖ’s likely return to government raises concerns about the erosion of liberal democracy.

The capacity to ‘compete’—rethinking the welfare state

Anton Hemerijck, Azizjon Bagadirov and Robin Wilson

Rather than a ‘burden on the taxpayer’, the welfare state should be understood in normative terms as productive social investment.

What to expect from Trump 2.0?

Simon Johnson

Trump’s return promises bold rhetoric but faces stark economic and global challenges.

Europe’s existential test: Navigating Putin, Trump, and the Global South

Guillaume Duval

How the EU must act to survive mounting global threats.

Why DOGE and Musk will fail

Laura Tyson

Elon Musk’s bid to “reinvent” government through Trump’s advisory DOGE commission will likely be a meme-worthy spectacle.

Why the centre-left has to remake democracy

Daron Acemoglu

Democrats must offer more than opposition—they need a bold vision for economic and political renewal.

Progressives Under Pressure: Confronting the Gradual Rise of Authoritarianism

Robert Misik

Progressives face the urgent challenge of defending democracy without reinforcing the very divisions that fuel its decline.

The vanishing act of Social Europe: Will it rise again?

Dominic Afscharian

Grand promises of a “strong social Europe” have given way to a sidelined agenda.

Can Europe overcome the radical right to forge a new path?

Catherine De Vries

The EU faces mounting pressure to address economic, security, and climate challenges.

America’s Loss Will Not Be Europe’s Gain

Hans Kundnani

Europeans are torn between fearing the vulnerabilities of American decline and seeing in it a chance to assert their own autonomy.

Who will guard The Guardian?

Stefan Stern

A strike at The Guardian exposes a deeper crisis of solidarity and purpose within the liberal left.

Can Trump broker peace in Ukraine? History may hold the answers

Rigels Lenja

Historical precedents highlight the challenges of finding a sustainable peace.

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New Edition - Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025

Can Europe preserve its distinctive social model while simultaneously rearming, reindustrialising, and reorganising its economy in a more conflictual and competitive world? This is the central question raised in this new edition of the Bilan social, a reference publication released every spring for more than 25 years by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE).

READ HERE
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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.

LISTEN HERE
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Read the book "The open future and its enemies" 

A robust democracy must not leave the future in the hands of the alliance between Big Tech and the far right. AI must be politically reined in and democratically shaped so that humanity retains its sovereignty.

Artificial intelligence is regarded as the driving force of progress. Yet it has long since become a challenge to democracy. The book argues that uncontrolled AI will erode our freedom, self-determination and democracy.

READ THE BOOK
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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.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D Africa Days 2026

We are pleased to invite you to save the date for the S&D Africa Days 2026, taking place on 30 June and 1 July 2026, in Brussels. 

At a time when Africa is too often viewed through narrow and one-sided narratives, this initiative reflects a key political priority for the S&D Group: to advance a renewed, forward-looking partnership of equals between Europe and Africa based on equality, solidarity, social justice and shared progress. 

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“What is the actual purpose of the state?” – this central question is the focus of the analysis. At a time when bureaucratic processes are making life difficult for citizens, the paper proposes a three-part model. It aims at a conception of the state as a platform that helps society build the capabilities it needs to address its problems effectively.

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