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Denis MacShane

Denis MacShane was a Labour MP (1994-2012) and served as UK minister of Europe. He writes regularly on European politics and Brexit.

Denis MacShane

The woman Roosevelt relied on to put America back to work

Denis MacShane 14th July 2020

Roosevelt is invoked more than ever amid talk of a ‘new deal’ for today’s crisis. Rather fewer, however, recall the woman at the heart of his programme.

What The EU Really Thinks About Brexit

Denis MacShane 22nd November 2018

A major problem in the Brexit debate since June 2016 is how 95 percent of reporting and discussion in the UK media has been about internal Westminster politics. Occasionally space is found for a brief interview with a minister or politician from an EU-27 government but only on condition that they speak perfect English. Pro-Brexit Conservative MPs […]

Why Such Disparity Between Unemployment Rates In Europe?

Denis MacShane 27th July 2018

Eurostat has just published its latest unemployment figures. For the EU and Eurozone. Overall, they show continuing progress though youth unemployment remains seriously high. But the statistics do not explain why some countries have much higher rates of joblessness than others with Greece posting nearly ten times the rate of unemployment as the Czech Republic […]

Reforming Freedom Of Movement To Support Workers And Reduce Immigration

Denis MacShane 11th June 2018

We now have a glimpse into the hard Tory vision of how a fully Brexited Britain will treat Europeans who want to work here. All during the 20th century after 1945, Britain had to import workers to do the jobs the sturdy white Englishman didn’t want to do. 200,000 Polish ex-soldiers after 1945 were sent […]

European Works Councils – Another Brexit Victim

Denis MacShane 5th January 2017

European Works Councils (EWCs) are a living, functioning embodiment of Social Europe and the core EU concept that workers should have rights and, in exchange for accepting cross-border market liberalisation, including movement of workers between different labour markets, employees of Europe-wide firms must be consulted and informed. A little known advantage of being in the […]

UK Labour Difficulties Are Those of 1930s, 1950s, 1980s

Denis MacShane 21st July 2016

I was asked by a German friend to explain what is happening inside the British Labour Party. This is what I sent him. In 2011 I organised a conference in northern England bringing together top Labour historians and senior MPs from the 1980s like David Owen and Gerald Kaufman. It was called “Labour 1931, 1951, […]

The New ‘Pop-Nat’ Authoritarianism

Denis MacShane 27th May 2016

The drift to illiberal Pop-Nat – populist nationalist – politics in Europe continues. Across the Atlantic Donald Trump exemplifies Pop-Nat politics. There is no sign that the grip of Orban-Kaczynski style politics is weakening.  They represent the soft EU version of Putin-Erdogan political control. Elections are held. A market economy exists. People can travel and publish. But […]

Millions Of Labour And TUC Votes Need To Be Won To Defeat Brexit

Denis MacShane 7th April 2016

The paradox of the EU referendum campaign is that all of Mr Cameron’s political foes want him to win and many of his political comrades want him to lose and hand over to an isolationist Prime Minister. So far the campaign has been a civil war in the Conservative Party rather like the legendary Irish […]

Why Post-mortems On Labour’s 2015 Defeat Are Pointless

Denis MacShane 12th February 2016

Has any historian of democratic left parties that form governments examined the phenomenon of how long they have to stay in opposition before they once again return to power? Labour is currently indulging in a ritual of seeking to answer the question why it lost the 2015 election with different elements of the party from […]

How Should Labour Handle The Brexit Referendum?

Denis MacShane 19th June 2015 1 Comment

As the Commons begins to discuss the Brexit plebiscite how should Labour handle the referendum?  By far the most important intervention was not a speech in the EU referendum bill debate but the warning from a troika of pro-European union leaders – Frances O’Grady of the TUC, Dave Prentis of Unison and Sir Paul Kenny of the […]

Believe In Europe But Prepare For Brexit

Denis MacShane 23rd March 2015 1 Comment

The people of Britain are poised for one of the biggest decisions in our history. In 2017, while the rest of Europe celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Treaty in Rome, I believe Britain will leave the European Union unless there is a major change of direction in British politics. The most important change in […]

Manuel Valls – Le Ferdinand Foch De Nos Jours?

Denis MacShane 17th July 2014 2 Comments

In 1914, as he was leading his men at the Battle of the Marne General Foch, the best of all the French fighting generals told his chiefs in Paris: ‘My centre is giving way. My right is retreating. The situation is excellent. I am attacking.’ And indeed in one of the greatest manoeuvres ever seen […]

Why The Left Must Address Inequality And Poverty

Denis MacShane 28th April 2014 3 Comments

Gently, slowly one can sense the terms of intellectual trade changing. The long era of individual accumulation with the massive transfer of power from the wage-earning collective to the capital funds and bankers that have caused so much damage is coming to an end. More and more the intellectual argument is shifting ground. The Nobel […]

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EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

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Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

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Bilan social / Social policy in the EU: state of play 2021 and perspectives

The new edition of the Bilan social 2021, co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), reveals that while EU social policy-making took a blow in 2020, 2021 was guided by the re-emerging social aspirations of the European Commission and the launch of several important initiatives. Against the background of Covid-19, climate change and the debate on the future of Europe, the French presidency of the Council of the EU and the von der Leyen commission must now be closely scrutinised by EU citizens and social stakeholders.


AVAILABLE HERE

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Living and working in Europe 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a defining force in 2021, and Eurofound continued its work of examining and recording the many and diverse impacts across the EU. Living and working in Europe 2021 provides a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe. It also summarises the agency’s findings on issues such as gender equality in employment, wealth inequality and labour shortages. These will have a significant bearing on recovery from the pandemic, resilience in the face of the war in Ukraine and a successful transition to a green and digital future.


AVAILABLE HERE

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