EU credibility as a people’s union rests on the social pillar
Buffeted by the pandemic and by populism, the EU needs the European Pillar of Social Rights to become a solid anchor of security for all.
Society
Analysis and debate on work and welfare, social rights, migration, gender, climate and the future of European societies.
Vaccine nationalism won’t defeat the pandemic
International co-operation is vital to make vaccination, as a public good, available to all.
Can we change the climate on climate change?
Karin Pettersson is impressed by a fictional account of the existential challenge humanity faces.
Managing the unavoidable impact of climate change
While doing all it can to arrest climate change, the EU must place workers and their concerns at the heart of its adaptation strategy.
Ursula von der Leyen’s mission ‘to the moon’
The European Green Deal rests on the commitment of the 27 member states. The fate of the renewable-energy directive shows the scale of that challenge.
Green intentions, brown outcomes
If the EU does not address its role in domestic deforestation it will never reach its goal of carbon neutrality.
EU-Mercosur free-trade pact risks irreversible destruction
With environment issues rising quickly up the EU agenda, it’s time to get trade and ecological policies into coherent alignment.
The false scarcity of vaccine trade tensions
The row over the EU introducing vaccine export controls has occluded its rejection of a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights.
A rail renaissance for Europe
The European Year of Rail can support the Green Deal and sustainable recovery. Europe needs more international trains with easier booking.
Big Tech media and the EU’s weak reed of ‘competition’
The attack on the US Capitol revealed the dangers of Big Tech media platforms—but envisaged EU competition laws won’t fix them.
Culture, creativity and coronavirus: time for EU action
The pandemic has highlighted a longer-term failure adequately to address the working conditions of cultural professionals in Europe.
Must try harder: recovering from educational inequality
School closures during the pandemic have hit socially excluded students hard. The EU needs to ensure every child can reach their potential.
No time to spare for the Paris climate promise
Having squandered past opportunities and shirked previous commitments, we now must start making up for lost time.
Not part of Europe anyway?
The language of the Brexit stand-off is of a ‘level playing-field’ versus ‘sovereignty’. But beneath that, it’s about divergent social models.
Care, capitalism and politics
The coronavirus crisis has highlighted how the welfare state of the future must be built on an ethic of care rather than self-interest.
Greater equality: our guide through Covid-19 to sustainable wellbeing
Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson
The pandemic has reinforced the case for egalitarianism to define the ethos of the welfare state.