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Robert Misik

Robert Misik is a writer and essayist living in Vienna.  His latest book is Das Große Beginnergefühl: Moderne, Zeitgeist, Revolution (Suhrkamp-Verlag). He publishes in many newspapers and magazines, including Die Zeit and Die Tageszeitung. Awards include the prize for economic journalism of the John Maynard Keynes Society.

Robert Misik

A social-democratic decade ahead?

Robert Misik 20th June 2022

Now Austria’s SPÖ too has left its competitors far behind, Robert Misik asks: is the Zeitgeist moving to the left?

A new era of containment?

Robert Misik 18th April 2022

The security architecture of the past 50 years is in ruins. Robert Misik maps a policy for the new cold war.

Beyond dystopia

Robert Misik 14th February 2022

To change the pessimistic Zeitgeist, left-wing politics and radical art must renew their alliance, Robert Misik writes.

The revolt against reason

Robert Misik 6th December 2021

Many have lost all trust in politics, Robert Misik writes. The protests against vaccination and anti-virus rules however turn this into madness.

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.

Austrian Democrats Must Unite To Stop The Far Right

Robert Misik 28th April 2016

The resistible rise of the Far Right in Austria. The presidential election is on a knife-edge before the deciding round of at the end of May. It did indeed come as a shock that moment when the blue bar on the TV screen last Sunday at 5 pm shot upwards: 35 per cent of the […]

Caputalism: Will Capitalism Die?

Robert Misik 12th January 2016

The fact that western capitalism is in a severe crisis is now so commonplace that it’s become almost a cliché. In 2008 the global financial system stood on the brink of collapse and the rescue measures undertaken by panic-stricken governments will burden their economies for years to come. Economists and analysts of a neo-conservative, economically […]

A Nail-biting Exercise For Alexis Tsipras

Robert Misik 18th September 2015

We’re sitting on the roof terrace of a restaurant at the foot of the Acropolis, with the brightly lit temple above us. But the mood among the company this evening is far from good. “I’ll never forgive those Syriza guys to the point that, thanks to them, I almost want the Conservatives to win the […]

The Unsettled Greek Revolution

Robert Misik 12th August 2015

While Syriza slowly recovers from the shock of the last few weeks, prime minister Alexis Tsipras is searching for a role. Greece after the referendum, closure of banks and the Brussels diktat. An investigation. It’s already past eight in the evening and my feet feel like they’re slowly being cooked in my heavy, leather boots. Admittedly […]

My Greece. The Journey Inside Syriza

Robert Misik 7th July 2015

Days of Decision. While the Greek drama moved towards a decision, I travelled into the interior of the new Greece. Meetings with Alexis Tsipras, his closest aids, local activists, young businessmen, working-class militants and people, who just manage to survive. “To our government,” Nikos shouts, slightly sarcastically. While we are lifting our beers, Katerina adds with […]

Show Solidarity And Stop Bashing Greece!

Robert Misik 19th February 2015

It was a paragraph hidden away in a Der Spiegel story about European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. During the European election campaign, one read, “the word ‘solidarity’ stood out on Juncker’s posters.” And further down: “Merkel’s CDU was so incensed about Juncker’s slogan that they almost thought about banning him from appearing in Berlin.” So, […]

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Workers on the route

Discover the new issue of HesaMag, the health and safety magazine with a European view (aussi disponible en français), published twice a year by the ETUI, and take your seat for an exclusive journey through the day-to-day reality of transport workers across Europe, from Romanian drivers to Dutch dockers and French female flight attendants, just to name a few.


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Eurofound advertisement

Fifth round of the Living, working and Covid-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty

The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, sampled between March 25th and May 2nd 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after Covid-19 was first detected on the European continent. It also explores the reality of living in a new era of uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, inflation and rising energy prices. The e-survey reveals the heavy toll of the pandemic, with respondents reporting lower trust in institutions than at the onset, poorer mental wellbeing, a rise in unmet healthcare need and an increase in households experiencing energy poverty.


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Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Discover the summer issue of the Progressive Post!

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out! It offers compelling analysis on: the energy-crisis challenge, Ukraine war, western Balkans, enlargement, housing crisis, rural areas, minimum wage and much more!

Almost five months into the war, and against the backdrop of soaring energy prices, rising inflation, a changing international order, rampant disinformation, the Ukrainian refugee emergency and all the other consequences triggered by the Russian war against Ukraine, the EU finds itself at a historic turning point. It must choose between sticking together, taking bold decisions, and acting accordingly—or, on the other side, allowing indecisiveness and divisions to gain the upper hand.


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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.


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