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Popular Articles


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy, society and ecology. This archive brings together Social Europe's most popular articles.

European Commission takes the lead in regulating platform work

Valerio De Stefano and Antonio Aloisi 9th December 2021

The draft directive published today is already breaking the united front of the platform companies.

The revolt against reason

Robert Misik 6th December 2021

Many have lost all trust in politics, Robert Misik writes. The protests against vaccination and anti-virus rules however turn this into madness.

Andersson’s agenda

Lisa Pelling 30th November 2021

Magdalena Andersson has been elected the first female prime minister of Sweden. Again.

An unorthodox solution for Europe’s electricity crisis

Michael Davies-Venn 2nd November 2021

National schemes sparing consumers the worst impact of soaring prices are no substitute for the EU redefining electricity as a public good.

Germany’s traffic-light coalition: green light or stuck on amber?

Peter Bofinger 25th October 2021

Peter Bofinger recognises the compromises necessary for a three-party government but regrets the lack of vision to face a decade of huge challenges.

Can Xi Jinping defeat three stubborn modern inequalities?

Branko Milanovic 18th October 2021

Branko Milanovic argues that ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is replicating United States inequalities.

A new global economic consensus

Mariana Mazzucato 14th October 2021

The pandemic has highlighted the deficiencies of economic deregulation and market liberalisation and a new policy-making paradigm is emerging.

The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy

Katharina Pistor 12th October 2021

In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.

Britain heads further down the Brexit rabbit-hole

Paul Mason 4th October 2021

Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button.

How Olaf Scholz won Germany

Dalia Marin 29th September 2021

In a few months, Scholz reversed the social democrats’ decade-long decline, running on a message of dignity and respect for all workers.

The myth of green capitalism

Katharina Pistor 27th September 2021

Rallying behind market-based measures to address climate change allows the owners of capital yet another way to avoid a reckoning.

Another win for workers: Uber drivers are employees

Jill Toh 22nd September 2021

As the platforms lose case after case over the designation of ‘contractors’ as workers, they are lobbying at European level to win back control.

The consequences of neoliberal capitalism in eastern Europe

Sheri Berman 6th September 2021

Sheri Berman argues that post-communist left embrace of economic as well as political liberalism allowed populists to target the latter.

Amazon no longer absorbs carbon—has the world reached the point of no return?

Isabel Schatzschneider 28th July 2021

The news that the Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink puts a further big question-mark against the EU-Mercosur trade deal.

ECB strategy review: the mountain has given birth to a mouse

Peter Bofinger 26th July 2021

Peter Bofinger argues that the ECB strategy review represents a missed opportunity.

Climate crisis offers way out of monetary orthodoxy

Adam Tooze 12th July 2021

The ECB’s strategy review, Adam Tooze writes, says more by its silences than its statements.

The soft underbelly of British politics

Paul Mason 5th July 2021

A by-election in northern England highlights the corrosive atrophying of the UK body politic, Paul Mason writes.

Threats to American democracy

Sheri Berman 7th June 2021

Sheri Berman warns that while the threats may seem incremental they pose a real danger—which Europeans should note.

Work harder: the Porto Social Summit’s call to Europe’s welfare states

Bea Cantillon 14th May 2021

Welfare states are having to run harder to stand still. They need to act in mutual support to win the race against inequality and poverty.

Next steps for a people’s vaccine

Jayati Ghosh 10th May 2021

Ending the pandemic requires not only an intellectual-property rights waiver but scaling up knowledge transfer and public production of vaccine supplies.

Decentralising and democratising while reforming European economic governance

Vivien Schmidt 9th May 2021

The Conference on the Future of Europe needs to address how EU governance can be refitted to end the crisis of legitimacy.

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