Work-life balance: from legal texts to real progress for working people
Taking the EU directive on work-life balance off the page will require determined trade-union efforts, including in challenging prejudices.
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.
Resisting the seductions of populism
References to ‘the people’ are misleading. Populism is no democratic corrective.
Time to ensure climate policy serves the public, not lobbyists
The fossil-fuel industry has been revealed to have invested vast resources in lobbying EU institutions.
Britain’s post-Brexit choices
Assuming the UK does eventually leave the EU, its next government will need to negotiate new relationships with the rest of the world.
The UK election should be about ideas, not polls
With the UK facing one of the most important elections in decades, the focus should be on the clear programmatic differences between the main parties, rather than weekly polling outcomes.
Europe: tear down those walls!
It may be three decades since the Berlin wall came down but too many others have recently proliferated.
Between 1945 and 1989: the rise of ‘illiberal democracy’ in post-Communist Europe
The strength of ‘illiberal democracy’ three decades after the fall of the Berlin wall can only be understood by reference to the prior cold-war trajectories of east and west.
After 1989: the battle for democracy
The differing paths of the states which emerged after the fall of the wall show how liberty and the rule of law go hand in hand.
Unpacking supreme courts to restore checks and balances
Democracy is threatened by politicisation of constitutional courts. Unorthodox tactics are required to restore their role.
A new version of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ for the western Balkans
The decision of the European Council, at French behest, not to begin accession negotiations for North Macedonia and Albania will have region-wide reverberations.
Budapest’s new mayor and the redemocratisation of Hungary
Local elections in Hungary have placed a question-mark over the durability of the 'illiberal democracy' of Viktor Orbán.
The big Green New Deal and its little red social question
Why does environmental promise always fall short in practice? A new answer to the social question can bridge the gap.
Drinking the blood of Ukraine: east-west competition for a country in crisis
The bizarre recent phone conversation between the president of the US and his counterpart in Ukraine returned to the public mind a neglected country with a frozen conflict.
Collective bargaining must be rebuilt in Europe
Revivified collective bargaining would benefit workers but also society as a whole—and political support is needed.
UN treaty on business and human rights vital for economic and social justice
How can transnational corporations be held to account in a world of nation states? A binding UN treaty would be an important step.
‘One In, One Out’ is a danger to workers’ health and safety
The new European Commission’s ‘One In, One Out’ approach to ‘burdensome’ legislation would stymie progress towards safer, healthier workplaces.
Elections in Switzerland: left-green gains and challenges
The parliamentary elections in Switzerland deprived the right of its majority. Can the surging greens and the social democrats take advantage?