Social Europe articles on politics

June 5, 2016 will be remembered as an important landmark in the worldwide march towards the implementation of unconditional basic income (UBI) schemes. All Swiss citizens were asked that day to express their approval of or opposition to the following proposal: The Confederation introduces an unconditional basic income. The basic income must enable the whole […]

The evocative aphorism that ‘on ne tombe pas amoureux d’un grand marché’ perfectly captures the mood of millions of Europeans in 2016. Jacques Delors was crucially aware of the strategic importance of Europe’s ‘social dimension’ in the process of European economic integration. Social rights, and labour rights in particular, talk to the hearts and minds […]

If voters in the United Kingdom decide in the country’s referendum on June 23 to leave the European Union, it will not be for economic reasons. They may choose Brexit because they want full sovereignty, because they hate Brussels, or because they want migrants to return home, but not because they expect great economic benefits. […]

Today I read an article on shortages and economic collapse in Venezuela. The reason why there are huge lines in front of the stores was the same one known to any student of socialist economies: state stores sell heavily subsidized goods and the demand for such goods exceeds their supply. Then, many people buy much […]

Among the British press, which overall shows a bias for leaving the EU, the Guardian is seen as one of the few papers with a friendly attitude towards remaining. However, there are pro-Brexit voices within the Guardian, too. On 20 May, Larry Elliott, the paper’s Economic Editor, made his argument for Britain to leave the EU: “Brexit may be the best […]

In March 2016 the European Commission presented the preliminary outline of a European Pillar of Social Rights as part of the work undertaken towards a deeper and fairer Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The Pillar is not meant to introduce new social rights and principles, but rather to complement and operationalise the existing EU social […]

The drift to illiberal Pop-Nat – populist nationalist – politics in Europe continues. Across the Atlantic Donald Trump exemplifies Pop-Nat politics. There is no sign that the grip of Orban-Kaczynski style politics is weakening.  They represent the soft EU version of Putin-Erdogan political control. Elections are held. A market economy exists. People can travel and publish. But […]

For Brexiters, history is already written: the EU is on course to become a superstate. Britain had better jump off the train before it happens, and other enlightened nations would be well-advised follow suit. Those who have studied European integration in recent years know that this claim is not just gross exaggeration – it is […]

The more our societies diversify into a loose network of lifeworlds, the more important it becomes to find a platform to hold them together. This common platform cannot be made out of a potpourri of policies, but needs to be built around a credible narrative about a better future for all. Shaping the Society of […]

On June 23 Britain has a choice, to leave or to remain as a member of the European Union. Polling indicates that it will be a tight race. But also that a lot of women, almost twice as many as men, are undecided. These women could determine the fate of economic prosperity and social progress […]

There is no uniform interpretation of Universal Basic Income (UBI). The simplest definition may be that UBI is a public program in which the state (at any level—national, regional, or local) transfers to everyone the same amount of money (usually similar to the level of income that defines a country’s poverty line). Among the earliest […]

The Democratic Party primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is being fought in the shadow of “neoliberalism” – in the shadow, that is, of the economic policies and general economic philosophy successfully espoused by Ronald Reagan in the United States and by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. Neoliberalism is that economic philosophy […]