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Politics


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 G20, the private sector and the vaccine, debt and climate crises

Katie Gallogly-Swan and Rebecca Ray 30th October 2021

G20 leaders meeting in Rome must recognise that only public purpose, not private profit, can tackle interconnected global crises.

Gender equality in Europe—everywhere relevant, everyone implicated

Evelyn Regner and Hannah Buchinger 30th October 2021

Gender Equality Week saw European Parliament committees host many events, highlighting real threats but also strong commitments.

Is Hungary returning to Europe?

Stephen Pogány 29th October 2021

The Hungarian opposition have united behind a conservative opponent of Viktor Orbán, ahead of parliamentary elections in the spring.

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.

Refugees fleeing Lebanon look to Europe—but Europe looks away

Katarzyna Rybarczyk 21st October 2021

In a case study of human desperation, state failure drives refugees to Cyprus, only to meet pushbacks and a numbed European conscience.

What did the German federal election mean for equality and diversity in the Bundestag?

Anne Jenichen 19th October 2021

Despite the share of women and of representatives with a minority background increasing by a small margin, there is still a long way to go.

Biden’s trap

Elizabeth Drew 18th October 2021

Joe Biden’s administration must deliver on sweeping new federal programmes while placating moderates who oppose radical policy measures.

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.

Brexit: why does Northern Ireland matter so much?

Robin Wilson 13th October 2021

So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else.

The improbable victory: lessons of the SPD’s election win

Robert Misik 11th October 2021

In his first Social Europe column, Robert Misik explains how the SPD prevailed in the Bundestag elections—and what follows.

The new way of doing politics in times of elections

Emilija Tudzarovska 7th October 2021

As Czechs go to the polls, a new politics is emerging across Europe, variously populist and technocratic.

Hungary’s path puts everyone’s rights in danger

Graeme Reid 6th October 2021

The ostensible assault on LGBT+ rights in Hungary, Poland and Russia has a very big target—anyone who signs up to universal norms.

Intellectual monopoly capitalism—challenge of our times

Cédric Durand and Cecilia Rikap 5th October 2021

Unregulated capitalism has always tended to monopoly. But Big Tech represents a challenge antitrust tools can’t tame.

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.

Most of Europe fails to guarantee access to abortion care

Tatev Hovhannisyan 1st October 2021

A comprehensive atlas of abortion policies across Europe shows that women’s experience ‘largely depends on their postcode’.

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.

Gender, ministers and political appointments

Bonnie Field 24th September 2021

Women fronting governments sends an important signal. Having them in the backrooms of power is however also crucial.

It’s about the sausage

Paul Emtsev 24th September 2021

Ahead of the Bundestag elections on Sunday, just how did Olaf Scholz become the top candidate to be chancellor?

Finding solid ground: gateways to municipal socialism

Carl Rowlands 20th September 2021

From interwar Vienna through 1980s London and beyond, municipalities are the crucible of compelling socialist initiatives.

Despite all the international attention, Afghan refugees are not welcome

Rashmee Roshan Lall 17th September 2021

Nobody really knows what prospects await Afghan refugees when countries have yet to see human rights as rights for all humans.

Catalonia: a fraught dialogue begins

Tom Canetti 17th September 2021

The leaders of the Spanish government and that in Catalonia have met across the table—but the gap between them remains large.

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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.


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss the transformative power of European Social Democracy, examine the far right’s efforts to redesign education systems to serve its own political agenda and highlight the growing threat of anti-gender movements to LGBTIQ+ rights – among other pressing topics.

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