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Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on political issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.

The EU must rise to the enlargement challenge

Kirsty Hughes 11th January 2024

A host of obstacles to realising the enlargement perspective of the summit in December can be surmounted with political will.

The west must face reality in Ukraine

Nina L Khrushcheva 9th January 2024

Whereas the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is willing to throw everything at this war, Ukraine’s backers are losing their resolve.

EU enlargement, reform and the missing citizens

Alberto Alemanno 8th January 2024

EU institutional reform should be about the citizenry. So what happened to the Conference on the Future of Europe?

Neoliberalism: still to shrug off its mortal coil

Colin Crouch 5th January 2024

In 2011 Colin Crouch’s The Strange Non-death of Neoliberalism appeared to acclaim. Its author reflects on a shifting landscape since.

Normalising the far right: a warning from Austria

Gabriela Greilinger 2nd January 2024

Facing the threat from right-wing populism at June’s Euro-elections, Austria offers lessons for progressives.

Yesterday, today and the shadow of fascism

Werner de Gruijter 1st January 2024

Why has the far right returned, after Holocaust and war? Chaos unnerves the vulnerable, sugaring fascism’s hollow promises.

EU-US relations: key to geopolitical stability

Tonino Picula 12th December 2023

The transatlantic partnership must be strengthened to combat a range of multifaceted global challenges.

The AI Act: deregulation in disguise

Aida Ponce Del Castillo 11th December 2023

The loopholes in the AI Act emerging from trilogue negotiations late on Friday could allow big corporations to slip through.

The idea of a liberal socialism

Bo Rothstein 11th December 2023

Liberalism and socialism have been wrongly counterposed. Connected, they represent a hegemonic alternative.

European constitutional reform hangs in the balance

Guido Montani 7th December 2023

The EU needs more coherent governance not just to accommodate its enlargement but to assume its global responsibilities.

Treaty changes for an EU that works for citizens

Gabriele Bischoff 7th December 2023

The European Parliament last month endorsed proposals for treaty changes which would trump nationalistic vetoes.

Investing in human security in Europe

Chiara Bonaiuti 6th December 2023

Public investment has been skewed towards the military in the last decade when a much wider array of threats are in evidence.

Barking up the wrong European tree

Jan Zielonka 4th December 2023

A multi-level Europe of networks, Jan Zielonka argues, is the flexible alternative to brittle clashes over ‘sovereignty’.

Vladimir Putin’s killer patriotism

Nina L Khrushcheva 28th November 2023

Last year’s ‘partial mobilisation’ triggered a backlash against the Kremlin and Putin is fearful of a repeat.

Geert Wilders and Dutch coalition prospects

Catherine De Vries 25th November 2023

The election victory in the Netherlands for the Party for Freedom fits into a wider picture of European radical-right populism.

Big Tech lobbying is derailing the AI Act

Bram Vranken 24th November 2023

Behind closed doors, the companies have fiercely lobbied the European Union to leave advanced artificial-intelligence systems unregulated.

Ukraine and Moldova to test new accession process

Nora Siklodi and Nándor Révész 21st November 2023

Ukraine and Moldova have taken a huge step towards European Union membership but hazards lie ahead.

Italy, Albania, asylum and ‘European values’

Lily Lynch 20th November 2023

Albania’s agreement to process offshore asylum-seekers heading for Italy, Lily Lynch writes, is not a good look.

Is Germany going authoritarian-left?

Flora Baumgartner 20th November 2023

Sahra Wagenknecht’s new party has a questionable support base and doubtful prospects—like others of its kind across Europe.

How the war in Ukraine has transformed the EU

Nathalie Tocci 15th November 2023

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a profound effect on the European Union, whose response is defining its trajectory.

Israel-Palestine: what kind of solidarity?

Frank Hoffer 14th November 2023

The imperative of solidarity is with all those Jews and Palestinians who seek the solution neither Hamas nor Netanyahu wants.

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Spring Issues

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out!


It is time to take action and to forge a path towards a Socialist renewal.


European Socialists struggle to balance their responsibilities with the need to take bold positions and actions in the face of many major crises, while far-right political parties are increasingly gaining ground. Against this background, we offer European progressive forces food for thought on projecting themselves into the future.


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