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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.

Could Ukraine’s Reparations Loan End The EU’s Paralysing Foreign Policy Veto?

Guillaume Duval

A €140 billion loan secured against frozen Russian assets may force Europe to abandon unanimity voting—and finally give the EU real geopolitical power.

The Sun Sets on the Transatlantic Dream

Joschka Fischer

As Trump weakens Western alliances and democracy erodes at home, Europeans confront a painful truth: yesterday's world is gone.

Finland’s Right-Wing Coalition Plans Fifty Years of Austerity Through National Debt Brake

Otto Kyyrönen

Finland's government wants public debt below 40 percent of GDP, forcing decades of cuts stricter than EU rules.

Restoring Public-Sector Capacity Where It Counts

Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel

Cities face crises first. Investing in capable, adaptive local governments is essential for resilience, inclusion, and democracy.

Trump Puts America Up for Sale: Everything Now Comes With a Price Tag

Katharina Pistor

From $100,000 work visas to million-dollar “gold cards,” Trump turns government services into transactions for the highest bidder.

Trump’s Show of Force

Timothy Snyder

State governors are emerging as democracy's last defenders against federal overreach and military deployments.

The Lethal Consensus: How Liberals Lost the War of Ideas

Dominic Afscharian

Bold visions defeat timid reforms—yet liberals insist on bringing policy briefs to an ideological gunfight.

Why Putin Does Not Want Peace in Ukraine

Guillaume Duval

Even America's most Russia-friendly president cannot deliver the ceasefire Moscow's strategic calculations demand.

Violence As Policy in Trump’s America

Jan-Werner Müller

Trump uses far-right activist's killing to justify violence while portraying himself as victim.

The Far Right Is Winning In Austria—Even In Opposition

Gabriela Greilinger

Austria's government cuts welfare whilst hardening on immigration—a losing strategy that strengthens the far right.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete as Policy: Why Deregulation Won’t Save EU Innovation

Aida Ponce Del Castillo

The European Commission's push to slash regulations in pursuit of competitiveness risks undermining the very foundations of technological progress.

The Middle East Conflict: What Would Albert Einstein Have Said?

Bo Rothstein

Albert Einstein’s genius for unconventional thinking offers a provocative framework for breaking today's deadly stalemate through economic compensation.

Federation or Vassalisation, It’s Decision Time

Josep Borell, Guy Verhofstadt and Domènec Ruiz Devesa

Europe must choose: federal union and self-determination, or decline into division and American vassalage.

Germany’s Minimum Wage Hike In Accordance With The European Minimum Wage Directive

Thorsten Schulten and Malte Lübker

Germany’s wage commission sets a new course, linking pay floor to EU benchmark after years of modest rises.

Europe’s Energy Divide: Why the Green Transition Risks Leaving Half the Continent Behind

Dario Guarascio, Jelena Reljic and Francesco Zezza

As fossil fuel dependency threatens sovereignty, the EU's fragmented response deepens existing inequalities.

Reclaiming Sutan Sjahrir: The Quiet Moral Core of Democratic Socialism in Southeast Asia

Deny Giovanno

Sutan Sjahrir, Indonesia’s first Prime Minister, offers a forgotten blueprint for ethical leadership.

Housing Crisis Threatens to Fracture Central and Eastern Europe

Jeffrey Sommers, Daniel Pop and Cosmin Marian

A lack of affordable housing in urban centres is driving political instability across Central and Eastern Europe.

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ETUI Advertisement

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
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.

READ THE BOOK
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.

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. 

MORE INFO
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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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