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Refugees and a border guard looking at the border wall.

Iran May Become the Next Failed State — and Europe Will Pay the Price

Guillaume Duval

The US-Israeli assault on Iran was launched mid-negotiation, without UN backing, making it more dangerous to international law than Iraq.

Illustration of economic inequality with figures on a scale and industrial background.

Extreme Inequality Created the World Jeffrey Epstein Exploited

Kate Pickett

The Epstein revelations are symptoms of a deeper crisis: a political economy that rewards extraction over creation and concentrates power in ever fewer hands.

European politicians reading on red stairs, symbolising cautious political approach.

Europe’s Centre-Left Chose Caution Over Conviction and Now Faces Collapse

Rodrigo Vaz

Bold choices, not better messaging, are the only way to save Europe's centre-left from electoral extinction.

Statue of justice holding scales with world map background.

International Law’s Crisis of Faith: Double Standards from North to South

Lina Lorenzoni-Escobar and Kevin Crow

From Venezuela to Gaza, the selective application of international law by powerful states and their critics alike is draining the post-1945 order of its last reserves of legitimacy.

Flags of Spain and Norway combined with a textured, vintage style.

Spain and Norway Expose the Bankruptcy of Europe’s Iran Response

Gábor Scheiring

Europe's response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a continent locked in dependency and struggling to find its voice.

Illustration of a house with autumn trees and coins, symbolising social issues.

Pensions, Housing, Jobs: One Fund to Fix Them All

Frank Hoffer

A compulsory second-tier pension fund invested exclusively in social housing would tame rents, boost employment, and deliver stable retirement income.

Graffiti of a worker breaking bricks, symbolising labour and resilience.

Populism’s Real Target in Europe Is Not the Elite — It Is the Worker

Francesco Seghezzi

Populist leaders promise to empower “the people” but systematically sideline the institutions through which workers actually exercise power.

Artistic portrait of Donald Trump with vibrant colours and abstract background.

The Iran War Has Nothing to Do with Nuclear Weapons

Timothy Snyder

The assault on Iran defies every stated justification; the real motives point to democratic backsliding and personal enrichment.

Industrial pollution and climate change effects in Europe.

Iran Crisis Proves Europe Cannot Delay Its Industrial Transformation

Judith Kirton-Darling

The US–Israeli strikes on Iran lay bare every fault line in Europe's energy dependence, industrial fragility, and strategic exposure — and demand an immediate policy response.

Illustration of a woman with flowing hair blending into a European cityscape and sky.

European Sovereignty Demands a Social Foundation, Not a US Blueprint

László Andor and Robin Hugenot-Noël

A 'Draghi light' agenda of deregulation risks social repression — but a bolder path rooted in Europe's social democratic tradition offers a credible alternative.

Person standing amidst tangled pink lines representing political disorientation.

Disorientation Is the Point: How Permanent Unpredictability Broke Democratic Politics

Baris Cayli Messina

Chronic uncertainty does not mobilise democratic publics — it paralyses them, and that paralysis is itself a tool of power.

Cityscape with smoke rising from buildings and a fiery sky.

The War on Iran Has Begun — Here Are Ten Issues That Will Shape What Comes Next

Guillaume Duval

The American-Israeli assault has decapitated Iran's regime, but the cascade of geopolitical consequences threatens to destabilise the entire global order.

People walking with tents in a colourful landscape at sunset.

Aid Is Not Development: We Need a Different Conversation

Benny Dembitzer

Despite trillions spent over decades, more people than ever face starvation—because aid was never designed to end poverty.

Silhouettes of people walking up red stairs symbolising social mobility and inequality.

Fiscal Consolidation Costs Europe Jobs and Deepens Inequality

Philipp Heimberger and Anna Matzner

New research reveals that EU fiscal tightening reduces output, raises unemployment, and widens income gaps — especially during recessions.

The Locked-Out Generation: Europe’s Housing Market Is Failing Its Young

The Locked-Out Generation: Europe’s Housing Market Is Failing Its Young

Marie Hyland

Across the continent, soaring prices and stagnant supply have turned homeownership into a mirage for many young Europeans

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Progressive Thinking on the Big Issues of Our Time

Read by policymakers, academics and journalists in 100+ countries.

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D conference The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision, 9 September 2026, European Parliament, Brussels

S&D conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision”

The S&D Group is pleased to invite you to our conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision” on Wednesday, 9 September, from 14:30 to 18:30, in the European Parliament in Brussels as well as online, where we will discuss the geopolitical changes taking place in the Middle East.

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Cover of the ETUI and OSE book Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025.

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

Eurofound Advertisement

EurofoundTalks podcast with Mary McCaughey and Eszter Sandor: Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

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

FEPS Advertisement

Cover of The Progressive Post issue 31, Summer 2026: The Mediterranean, a crowded sea.

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

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI blog series “Climate Transition: Socially Just and Fair”: How the climate crisis and global migration are linked, by Neva Löw and Maximilian Pichl

How the climate crisis and global migration are linked

The climate crisis and global migration are closely linked. Emancipatory forces must demand and defend the right to be able to leave, but not to have to leave. This means defending and expanding asylum rights.

READ HERE

FES Advertisement

Cover of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung analysis The Capability State: A Progressive Vision for the 21st Century by Henning Meyer.

“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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