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Abstract artwork depicting European governance decline with stars and a lone figure.

Omnibus to Nowhere: The Quiet Dismantling of European Governance

Antoine Vauchez

A single code word — "Omnibus" — now drives the most sweeping rewrite of European law in the Union's history.

Illustration of an elderly man with glasses and white hair in a scholarly setting.

Why Reports of Sociology’s Public Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Valeria Pulignano and Paul Stewart

Sociology has not surrendered its public voice to philosophy. It has lost the illusion that it speaks from nowhere.

Artists painting the EU flag with stars on a wall.

Europe’s €2 Trillion Lever: Public Procurement Can Tame Big Tech

Jan Willem Goudriaan, Simon Vinge and Christina Colclough

Europe spends €2 trillion a year buying goods and services; treating that money as mere book-keeping squanders a decisive democratic lever.

Colourful illustration of a fossil fuel power plant with smoke stacks and oil rigs.

The Global South Cannot Afford to Quit Fossil Fuels

Ilan Kapoor

Renewables have won the cost argument, yet poorer nations still pay a steep premium to deploy them.

Colorful gears and silhouettes of people representing collaboration and innovation.

Leveraging the EU Single Market to escape the Trump Trap

Sabine Stephan and Sebastian Dullien

Leveraging the EU Single Market to escape the Trump Trap

Colourful abstract faces facing each other with geometric patterns.

The Right’s Pragmatism Is Just Another Ideology in Disguise

Justus Seuferle

Conservatives who deride "isms" are not transcending ideology — they are smuggling theirs in unexamined.

Abstract image of financial symbols and charts in red, black, and yellow.

Austerity Erodes The Governments That Impose It

Philipp Heimberger and Anna Matzner

Austerity packages reduce approval, drive protests, and raise the odds of a government crisis — especially in downturns.

Illustration of construction workers building Europe with cranes and scaffolding.

A Post-American Europe Must Build Its Own Power

Javier López

As Washington turns transactional and Beijing rises, Europe must convert its economic weight into genuine strategic power.

Silhouettes of a human face and a dog with EU flag stars, symbolising energy dependence.

The EU Trades One Gas Dependence for Another

Tom Bauermann

The bloc has swapped Russian pipelines for American tankers — without breaking its addiction to imported fossil fuels.

Art deco detectives with hats and mustaches in a geometric style.

Sociology Is Surrendering Its Public Voice to Philosophy

Carlo Bordoni

As modernity falters, sociology cannot diagnose the society it once helped define — and philosophy has taken its place.

Silhouettes of two children watching a sunset with EU stars in the sky.

No Procedure Can Manufacture a European Demos

Enzo Rossi

Across federalist, fiscal and deliberative proposals, Europe's reformers keep deferring the one question integration cannot bypass.

Cargo containers at a port with a ship and cranes under a setting sun.

Targeted Infrastructure Spending Slows AfD Gains In Germany’s Industrial Heartlands

Vincent Heddesheimer, Hanno Hilbig, Daniel Posch and Jens Südekum

Targeted infrastructure spending dampens AfD vote growth in Germany's transition-pressured regions, but innovation funding still bypasses them.

Cartoon of woman and man in conflict with EU stars background.

The Forty-Year Gap Between Europe’s Equality Law And Its Practice

Joanna Demopoulou

European law forces 40 per cent gender balance on listed boardrooms but exempts the cabinets that actually wield public power.

Businessman standing at a door with European Union flags, symbolising economic choices.

Deregulation Will Make Europe Poorer, Not Stronger

Nicolas Schmit, László Andor and Anna Diamantopoulou

Three former European Commissioners warn that scrapping social protections in pursuit of competitiveness will leave the Union weaker, not stronger.

Stylized illustration of a woman's face with cityscape and financial symbols.

Declining Dollar Dominance: Potential Euro Gains

Silke Tober and Thomas Theobald

Without large-scale joint debt and deeper safe-asset markets, the euro cannot capitalise on Trump's assault on dollar credibility.

Illustration of European democracy leaders with EU flag and cityscape background.

May 8 Belongs in the Calendar of Every European Democracy

Ellen de Soete and Ludovic Voet

As eyewitnesses fade and the far right reframes liberation as defeat, EU institutions must answer with policy.

Stylized illustration of a man with intense expression and lightning behind him.

Madrid Has the Cure for Trump-Era Energy Shocks

Peter Bofinger

Spain's heretical VAT cut tames inflation—a model for Europe as Trump's tariffs and Middle East shocks bite.

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S&D Housing Storytelling

Europeans are struggling with rising housing and rental costs, and we have been working in various ways to address this, because we believe a home is a right for everyone.
 Recently, we travelled across Europe to hear directly from people who struggle to afford a decent place to live. They shared a glimpse of how the housing crisis has affected their lives and why having a home is so important to them. Take a moment to check out their stories. They remind us why it is so urgent to act.

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New Edition - Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025

Can Europe preserve its distinctive social model while simultaneously rearming, reindustrialising, and reorganising its economy in a more conflictual and competitive world? This is the central question raised in this new edition of the Bilan social, a reference publication released every spring for more than 25 years by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE).

READ HERE
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Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE
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The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out! 

The EU is belatedly awakening to a changing Mediterranean sea, where more assertive regional powers are reclaiming a role.

The new issue of the magazine also reflects on how we struggle to keep pace with AI innovations, examines the uncertainties surrounding the execution of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the risk to human rights posed by the Return Regulation, and focuses on the EU Commission's newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

READ THE MAGAZINE
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Author portrait, Social Europe.

In the face of escalating crises, we need a strong understanding of just transition that includes a democratisation of the economy and imagines the socio-ecological transformation from an internationalist perspective.

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FES Advertisement

“What is the actual purpose of the state?” – this central question is the focus of the analysis. At a time when bureaucratic processes are making life difficult for citizens, the paper proposes a three-part model. It aims at a conception of the state as a platform that helps society build the capabilities it needs to address its problems effectively.

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