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Popular Articles


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher that publishes content examining issues in politics, economy, society and ecology. This archive brings together Social Europe's most popular articles.

Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap

James Dyke, Robert Watson and Wolfgang Knorr 27th April 2021

The US has joined the EU in committing to net-zero emissions by 2050—and the latter to 55 per cent net lower emissions by 2030. Scientists fear the ‘net’ could, once more, displace urgency.

Covid-19 in India—profits before people

Jayati Ghosh 27th April 2021

Jayati Ghosh explains why more than a third of a million Covid-19 cases are being reported in India daily—and what that says about our world.

A European wealth tax

Jakob Kapeller, Stuart Leitch and Rafael Wildauer 9th April 2021

A European wealth tax could be a ‘win-win’ strategy for reducing extreme wealth inequality and funding the recovery from the pandemic.

Putting the brakes on the spread of indecent work

Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck 10th March 2021

Legal victories for workers against platform corporations remain partial and limited in the absence of legislative and institutional change.

Cancelling a debt we already own has a false allure

Anne-Laure Delatte, Michel Husson, Benjamin Lemoine, Éric Monnet, Raul Sampognaro, Bruno Tinel and Sébastien Villemot 9th March 2021

The proposal to cancel ECB-held sovereign debt is not the best riposte to the looming renewal of austerity.

Fissures that tear us apart and pressures that weigh us all down

Kate Pickett 8th March 2021

Kate Pickett contends in a new Social Europe column that inequalities go together—and so their opponents shouldn’t get drawn into rivalry.

Fewer Italians than Swedes hold anti-feminist views

Tatev Hovhannisyan 17th February 2021

New research from anti-extremism charities reveals ‘unexpected patterns’ of opinions towards feminism across Europe.

Germany must reduce its current-account surplus

Jan Behringer, Till van Treeck and Achim Truger 11th February 2021

Germany’s sustained current-account surplus is not only bad for others in Europe and beyond—it is bad for almost all Germans too.

The false scarcity of vaccine trade tensions

Katie Gallogly-Swan 8th February 2021

The row over the EU introducing vaccine export controls has occluded its rejection of a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights.

Europe’s ‘long-Covid’ economic frailty

Adam Tooze 25th January 2021

Last year’s agreement on an EU recovery package was widely celebrated. This year its inadequacy will sink in.

Spain: more stable employment contracts

Ane Aranguiz 21st January 2021

The Supreme Court has modified its jurisprudence on subcontracting, limiting the scope for abuse of temporary contracts.

Unsplendid isolation: Britain after ‘Brexit’

Paul Mason 18th January 2021

Paul Mason writes that a Biden US presidency allied to an EU pursuing ‘strategic autonomy’ leaves a ‘sovereign’ UK with a bit-part role.

Capital and ideology: interview with Thomas Piketty

Thomas Piketty 23rd December 2020

Thomas Piketty tells Robin Wilson how wealth and power can be transferred from capital to workers and citizens.

Gig workers’ rights and their strategic litigation

Aude Cefaliello and Nicola Countouris 22nd December 2020

A window of opportunity has opened up to utilise EU law on health and safety to advance the rights of ‘gig’ workers in domestic courts.

The infrastructural power of platform capitalism

Funda Ustek-Spilda, Fabian Ferrari, Matt Cole, Pablo Aguera Reneses and Mark Graham 16th December 2020

We can’t go back to a world without labour platforms, so their proprietary digital infrastructure must be recreated as a public good.

New forms of employment in Europe—how new is new?

Irene Mandl 15th December 2020

Standard employment is not simply being replaced by non-standard work. But work is becoming more diverse and policy must accordingly become more tailored.

The first global event in the history of humankind

Branko Milanovic 7th December 2020

While some talk of ‘deglobalisation’, Branko Milanovic argues that the pandemic will push forward the globalisation of labour.

The Biden victory and the future of the centre-left

EJ Dionne Jr 4th December 2020

Postwar global progress has hinged on a transatlantic alliance of progressive parties. The election in the United States potentially opens a new chapter.

Designing vaccines for people, not profits

Mariana Mazzucato, Henry Lishi Li and Els Torreele 2nd December 2020

For all the hope spurred by the efficacy announcements of multiple Covid-19 vaccine candidates, national and private interests are trumping health justice.

Light in the tunnel or oncoming train?

Adam Tooze 30th November 2020

Adam Tooze argues that the frail eurozone recovery hinges entirely on its guarantee by the European Central Bank.

The rise of right-wing nationalism: from Poland to Polanyi

Karin Pettersson 16th November 2020

Karin Pettersson argues that far from history ‘ending’ in 1989 it has returned, with a vengeance, due to the very deregulation its trumpeters embraced.

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Minimum wages in 2022: annual review

Nominal minimum wage rates rose significantly in 2022, compared with 2021. In 20 of the 21 European Union member states with statutory minimum wages, rates increased. When inflation is taken into account, however, the minimum wage increased in real terms in only six member states. If current inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow at all in real terms in any country in 2022.


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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.


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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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ETUI/ETUC conference: A Blueprint for Equality

Join us at the three-day hybrid conference ‘A blueprint for equality’ (22-24 June).

The case against inequality has already been strongly articulated. Inequality is not just incidental to a particular crisis but a structural problem created by an economic model. Now is the time to explore what real equality should look like.

As a media partner of this event, Social Europe is delighted to invite you to this three-day conference, organised by the ETUI and ETUC. More than 90 speakers from the academic world, international organisations, trade unions and NGOs will participate, including the economist Thomas Piketty and the European commissioner Nicolas Schmit.


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