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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.

Jürgen Habermas Shaped the Postwar Order — His Death Must Not Mark Its End

Peter Verovšek

The greatest democratic theorist of the postwar era leaves behind a world dismantling everything he defended.

Let’s Admit It. Americans Are Not Like Us

Philip Stephens

The Atlantic alliance is over. The best to hope for is an entente recognising Europe and the US still have shared interests.

Liberal Democracy Depends on Social Rights

Aoife Nolan

Democratic backsliding and rising social insecurity have gone hand in hand.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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A more strategic Europe? Risks and opportunities for the world of work

Europe’s ambition to achieve strategic autonomy is at risk of being undermined from within, according to the annual flagship report by the ETUI and the ETUC. Despite signs of macroeconomic resilience, weakening investment, stalled decarbonisation and growing labour market fragilities are eroding the very foundations on which Europe’s power depends. Once again, the Benchmarking Working Europe 2026 report stands out as an invaluable resource, providing a comprehensive set of indicators illustrated through more than 60 graphs and tables, with analysis from ETUI researchers.

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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.

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The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!

In geopolitics, 2026 is challenging our certainties: from the abduction of the Venezuelan president, over the open US threats to 'take' Greenland, to the US-Israeli war on Iran. This issue tries to determine what comes next, debating power politics in the 21st century. We also examine the European Commission's first Anti-Poverty Strategy as well as the EU's need for proactive adaptation measures, exploring the legislation, resources and mechanisms to climate-proof our future.

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Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

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WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE PAPER

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