Green taxonomy: traffic-light coalition flashes amber
The EU’s controversial proposal to label nuclear energy ‘green’ could jeopardise the future of the German coalition.
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.
Building back greener?
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is important but will not mobilise sufficient green investment by itself.
EU cash floodgates open for nuclear and gas
There is no environmental, climate or economic reason to include nuclear and fossil gas in the EU investment taxonomy.
Framing the future of the internet
The European Parliament has just voted on the Digital Services Act, crucial for internet regulation.
Europe must reimagine its cultural policies
The EU has often been thought of as primarily a market-making mechanism. Yet it is above all a cultural project.
Social-ecological policy options: free green services
How to avoid ecological policies having adverse social effects? Make the associated services (partly) free.
‘Leaving no one behind’: putting words into actions
The climate transition and its social dimension demand more powerful instruments than the European Commission proposes.
Germany’s reliance on its healthcare ‘brown angels’
The recruitment of nurses to meet shortages in the global north has side-effects—not all good—on their countries of origin.
Online surveillance thrives when fear takes over
European law-enforcement agencies have been pushing to end encryption and survey everyone’s online communications.
European Green Deal: can it tackle the climate crisis?
Public-private partnerships must be replaced by public-community collaborations for wellbeing and the climate.
High-speed rail along a ‘European silk road’
The Recovery and Resilience Facility aims to finance national projects. Yet a pan-European rail network could yield big emissions cuts.
Regulate, but build too: for a European digital sphere
The EU should not just clip the wings of the Californian corporations but help construct a European digital public sphere.
Value-based engineering vs the Silicon Valley Zeitgeist
A European digital public sphere has to be engineered—but that doesn’t mean pursuing an AI dystopia or creating a European Facebook.
Buildings key to achieving Europe’s climate goals
There are fears the revised directive on energy performance due from the European Commission will not be adequate to the task.
Burying the problem: carbon markets and sustainable agriculture
The European Commission initiative on ‘carbon farming’ due today is expected to rely on a market in sequestration.
Germany’s new coalition: changing gear on climate
Germany’s ‘traffic light’ coalition is sending strong green signals. But political roadblocks lie ahead.
Regularising migrants: Portugal’s missed chance
The pandemic has encouraged a re-evaluation of key migrant workers. A botched reform in Portugal has however revealed the pitfalls.