Pay gaps between firms driving wage inequality
Inter-firm differences are not only widening wage gaps but also threaten wider social division among workers.
Setting human-rights due diligence back on track
A carve-out for the finance sector would water down the ambition of the EU’s human-rights due-diligence legislation.
Interest-rate rises versus the public interest
In going along with rate rises, European governments are saving the European Central Bank—not their societies.
The most wonderful time of the year
The splurge of Christmas consumerism, especially in Britain, Kate Pickett writes, is partly driven by status anxiety.
Almost-new fiscal rules for an old Europe
The proposed new fiscal rules may represent modest steps from the status quo. But they are in the right direction.
Listening in on the lives of others
‘National security’ has become the new excuse to spy on political opponents and journalists in Europe.
General strike in Belgium
Belgian trade union confederations this week led strikes and other actions to challenge the impact of inflation on purchasing power.
Using common strengths to overcome the crisis
Europe needs to move from fear of the ‘moral hazard’ of fiscal co-operation to confidence in its collective benefits.
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.
How to reform the European fiscal rules
The fiscal rules have been in abeyance with the pandemic. What will replace them is up for grabs.
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.
Putting politics back in charge of the economy
In the neoliberal era, economics marginalised the social sciences. But, Sheri Berman writes, only politics can tame capitalism’s chaotic gyrations.
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.