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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.

Spain and Norway Expose the Bankruptcy of Europe’s Iran Response

Gábor Scheiring

Europe's response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a continent locked in dependency and struggling to find its voice.

Pensions, Housing, Jobs: One Fund to Fix Them All

Frank Hoffer

A compulsory second-tier pension fund invested exclusively in social housing would tame rents, boost employment, and deliver stable retirement income.

Populism’s Real Target in Europe Is Not the Elite — It Is the Worker

Francesco Seghezzi

Populist leaders promise to empower “the people” but systematically sideline the institutions through which workers actually exercise power.

The Iran War Has Nothing to Do with Nuclear Weapons

Timothy Snyder

The assault on Iran defies every stated justification; the real motives point to democratic backsliding and personal enrichment.

Iran Crisis Proves Europe Cannot Delay Its Industrial Transformation

Judith Kirton-Darling

The US–Israeli strikes on Iran lay bare every fault line in Europe's energy dependence, industrial fragility, and strategic exposure — and demand an immediate policy response.

European Sovereignty Demands a Social Foundation, Not a US Blueprint

László Andor and Robin Hugenot-Noël

A 'Draghi light' agenda of deregulation risks social repression — but a bolder path rooted in Europe's social democratic tradition offers a credible alternative.

Disorientation Is the Point: How Permanent Unpredictability Broke Democratic Politics

Baris Cayli Messina

Chronic uncertainty does not mobilise democratic publics — it paralyses them, and that paralysis is itself a tool of power.

The War on Iran Has Begun — Here Are Ten Issues That Will Shape What Comes Next

Guillaume Duval

The American-Israeli assault has decapitated Iran's regime, but the cascade of geopolitical consequences threatens to destabilise the entire global order.

Aid Is Not Development: We Need a Different Conversation

Benny Dembitzer

Despite trillions spent over decades, more people than ever face starvation—because aid was never designed to end poverty.

Trump The Rebel King

Slavoj Žižek

Donald Trump has taken the exercise of power to its most absurd extreme. He rules a state that he seeks to destroy.

How Orbán’s Fidesz Instrumentalises Hungary’s Roma as an Electoral Prop

Zsuzsanna Árendás and Vera Messing

A senior minister's vulgar remark about Roma "cleaning train toilets" was no gaffe — it was a campaign programme in miniature.

Why a Club of Six Nations Is Both Europe’s Best Hope and Its Greatest Risk

Guillaume Duval

A German proposal to unite the EU's six largest countries confronts a Union paralysed by the dominance of its smallest members.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Frank Hoffer

Russia's war on Ukraine grinds into its fifth year, yet the Kremlin's strategic position is deteriorating on every front.

How Gender Attitudes Shape Climate Concerns

Rahel Weier, Miriam Rehm and Neva Löw

Women are more likely to worry about the climate crisis than men. The concept of “hegemonic masculinity” explains this gender gap.

Right-Wing Think Tanks Are Building a New Hegemony — Europe’s Progressives Must Fight Back

Gabriela Greilinger

US plans to bankroll MAGA-aligned think tanks in Europe demand a forceful counterhegemonic response from democratic forces.

Europe’s Industrial Workers Back the Green Transition — It’s Political Chaos They Cannot Stomach

Caroline Pilatowicz

Austrian workers embrace sustainability but demand an end to the policy reversals that undermine their confidence and competitiveness.

Democratise Firms to Save Democracy and the Planet

Isabelle Ferreras

To sustain democratic states, we must dismantle the autocracies that persist in our workplaces.

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ETUI Advertisement

A more strategic Europe? Risks and opportunities for the world of work

Europe’s ambition to achieve strategic autonomy is at risk of being undermined from within, according to the annual flagship report by the ETUI and the ETUC. Despite signs of macroeconomic resilience, weakening investment, stalled decarbonisation and growing labour market fragilities are eroding the very foundations on which Europe’s power depends. Once again, the Benchmarking Working Europe 2026 report stands out as an invaluable resource, providing a comprehensive set of indicators illustrated through more than 60 graphs and tables, with analysis from ETUI researchers.

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Eurofound Advertisement

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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FEPS Advertisement

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.

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Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

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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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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FES Advertisement

“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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