Themes

The European Social Charter has long been treated as second-fiddle when it comes to protection of human rights in Europe.

The European Parliament elections in June 2024 will be of huge significance for the future of the European Union—a Zeitenwende.

Beyond the cost-of-living crisis, this series addresses how genuine EU ‘strategic autonomy’ can promote the green transition and the global good.

Everything you need to know about the war—why Russia invaded, the impact in Ukraine, ending the war and the EU and Ukraine.

A European digital public sphere is needed to enable European citizens to be sovereign, not Californian corporations, and to foster democratic deliberation.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plans are key to the delivery of the €750 billion economic-recovery package agreed by the European Council in July 2020. These plans are supposed to support such goals as the green transition and digital transformation.

The end of the Donald Trump administration in Washington has provided the opportunity to turn the page on a transatlantic relationship which had become poisoned by Trump’s personal high-handedness and pursuit of an ‘America first’ policy on everything from trade to NATO. It may also allow of a closer relationship than under the prior administration […]

The coronavirus crisis is different from known economic crises of the past. First, this time it is affecting industries previously less prone to crisis and in which more women work, meaning the highest developed and richest countries in the world are also deeply hit. The sectors affected are primarily the gastronomy, tourism and retail industries. […]

The taxation of business has rapidly risen up the global political agenda. Several factors have lain behind this trend, after decades in which it became widely assumed that footloose capital would simply be deterred by ‘excessive’ corporate taxation, which consequently should fall on much mess mobile labour—or simply fall, at the expense of purportedly ‘inefficient’ […]

The three postwar decades of peace and prosperity in western Europe and north America—as they appear now—were built on a relationship between progressives on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The era was defined by commitment to full (male) employment, with Keynesian demand management; falling inequality, with progressive taxation funding the delivery of public […]

The future of work is an ever-present concern for workers in a globalised economy characterised by footloose finance, fickle supply chains and above all ‘flexible’ labour markets. Fewer and fewer workers enjoy regular labour contracts—with associated social entitlements—and risk is increasingly being displaced on to labour by the rise of short-term and zero-hours employment and […]

The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the flaws in European welfare states, which can spur their renewal and reinforcement after decades of cuts and privatisation. It has foregrounded how increasingly threadbare social safety nets and precarious labour markets have left many marginalised and even destitute. This has strengthened the claim of those who have argued that […]

In co-operation with our partner the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Hans Böckler Stiftung, we explore the issue of ‘just transition’. This idea has evolved, in a sense, as a sub-set of the Green New Deal. Making the ecological transition to a sustainable future is essential—it is now widely agreed—but if this is not done […]

AI is permeating a wide range of areas and it is bound to transform work and society. This series addresses possibilities and challenges. Above all it asks what needs to be done politically in order to shape this transformation for the sake of the common good. AI and work AI has conjured up a dystopia […]

Europe is in a pivotal year yet again. The European elections in May 2019 set the tone for what will unfold during the rest of 2019 and beyond. The new European Parliament will have its first sitting in the summer and the second half of the year will be determined by the creation of a […]

What is inequality? Inequality is the defining theme of the left-right political spectrum—going back to the time of the French revolution, when the supporters of liberté, égalité, fraternité sat on the left side of the first Assemblée nationale. Those on the left have always argued that capitalism tends to engender economic inequality, which can be […]

In cooperation with our partners from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Hans Böckler Stiftung, Social Europe examines the different dimensions of the crisis of globalisation and what kind of policy mix could help addressing it. We bring together some of the best analyses and leading voices in the field and try to highlight some of the most […]

In cooperation with our partners from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Hans Böckler Stiftung as well as Member of the European Parliament Javi Lopez, Social Europe examines the different dimensions of inequality in Europe and what kind of policy mix could help addressing them. We bring together some of the best analyses and leading voices in the field […]

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom held a historic referendum and voted to leave the European Union, marking an unprecedented moment in European history. The following collection of articles offers a comprehensive analysis of the key issues surrounding Brexit. Our ‘Understanding Brexit’ section has been updated with new contributions that explore the ongoing consequences […]

The European Union is faced with an unprecedented challenge. It needs to help refugees coming to Europe from the crisis areas around the Mediterranean and at the same time do more to eradicate the reasons for their displacement. Far too many people have died in the Mediterranean and the humanitarian situation in many refugee camps and escape […]