European Child Guarantee: making it a reality
Portugal, whose national plan is launched today, offers a model for a transversal and localised approach.
Society
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 societal issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Progress and setbacks from COP27
The European Union cannot rely on the United Nations process to deliver and must reinforce its own climate efforts.
Energy bills: direct payments needed, not fossil subsidies
Subsidising high energy costs might seem the obvious answer to the cost-of-living crisis—but it’s not.
World Cup clampdown on rainbow armbands
The international football governing body's action in Qatar conflicts with its own guidance on human rights.
The most wonderful time of the year
The splurge of Christmas consumerism, especially in Britain, Kate Pickett writes, is partly driven by status anxiety.
Now is the future for social security
In a Europe of increasingly non-standard employment, social protection for all is more rather than less imperative.
The entrepreneurial state must lead on climate change
As a much-touted green alliance of financial institutions crumbles, the private sector has once again proved unequal to the task of climate leadership.
A European initiative for a global green deal
COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh is now open but the European Union does not seem to have the will to achieve serious goals.
Global environmental governance: reform urgent
As COP27 opens in Egypt while famine sweeps Somalia, an outcome-based approach to climate change must replace the appearance of action.
Shrink finance, save the planet
It will take more than sustainable-finance rules to summon the investment required for the socio-ecological transformation.
Does the European Care Strategy care about disability?
The European Commission’s initiative on long-term care addresses disability yet ignores key aspects of international law.
Getting out of the coal black hole
Europe can replace all Russian fossil-fuel imports with clean solutions by 2025—but only if it avoids the coal trap.
From ‘green growth’ to a ‘good life’
The Green Deal assumes economic growth can be ‘decoupled’ from ecological damage. That’s wishful thinking.
A green growth and innovation paradigm
Meeting the challenge of climate change requires social democracy to come up with a new social paradigm.
War’s impact on Ukraine’s child-focused workers
Not only have many children been traumatised by the Russian invasion. Some of their carers and teachers have too.
Cost-of-living emergency: Europe needs radical steps
Measures advanced by trade unions, and trade union involvement, will be key to getting through this crisis.
Beyond the politics of ‘us’ and ‘them’
In a world that is ever more interconnected it is essential to question naturalised dividing lines and build solidarity.