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Politics


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher. We use the values of freedom, sustainability and equality as the foundation on which we examine society’s most pressing challenges. We are committed to publishing cutting-edge thinking and new ideas from the most thought-provoking people. This archive page brings together Social Europe articles on political issues.

The biggest killer of pandemic times: inequality

Jayati Ghosh 24th January 2022

‘Inequality’ is never the official cause of a death. But, writes Jayati Ghosh, that doesn’t mean it’s not.

The drama of the French presidential election

Christophe Sente and Timothée Duverger 24th January 2022

Social democracy is flatlining in a France which otherwise betrays common European features.

Macron wants EU ‘sovereignty’—but for whom?

Vicky Cann and Olivier Petitjean 19th January 2022

The French president has made ‘sovereignty’ a buzzword. Yet corporations seem to enjoy more than citizens.

A green developmentalism for Europe?

Rasmus Øjvind Nielsen 19th January 2022

The French EU presidency provides an opportunity to advance a ‘developmentalist’ strategy for the green transition.

While social apartheid endures, so will the pandemic

Ndileka Mandela 11th January 2022

Denying vaccination to Africa was always bound to rebound on the global north.

Unnecessary tradeoffs

Sheri Berman 10th January 2022

Progressive ideas can prevail in a democracy, Sheri Berman writes—but only if they are pitched in universal terms.

Russia: it’s raining men without umbrellas

Paul Emtsev 6th January 2022

What is Russia up to, at the Ukraine border and beyond? It takes a gender lens to see.

The virus antidote: political leadership, progressive government, public services

Peter Davis 21st December 2021

With still fewer than 50 fatalities, there is much to learn from how New Zealand’s Labour government has handled the pandemic.

A tale of loss and hope: what can we learn from Poland?

Maria Skóra 21st December 2021

Poland’s ruling nationalists aren’t having it all their own way. The opposition needs more external recognition.

Towards transparency by design in the EU

Emily O'Reilly 20th December 2021

Citizens must have access to information to engage with the democratic life of the union, the European ombudsman argues.

Transforming German society

Michael Davies-Venn 13th December 2021

More than profound changes to German citizenship laws will be needed to render a diverse society harmonious.

The Summit for Democracy—a wrong idea (for the world)

Branko Milanovic 13th December 2021

Branko Milanovic contends that last week’s US-convened Summit for Democracy could only exacerbate geopolitical divides.

Tax justice—a crucial tool to advance human rights

Magdalena Sepúlveda 10th December 2021

On Human Rights Day, the world looks a lot different through a lens of social and economic rights.

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.

Andersson’s agenda

Lisa Pelling 30th November 2021

Magdalena Andersson has been elected the first female prime minister of Sweden. Again.

Towards gender-parity democracy

Irune Aguirrezabal 29th November 2021

It’s time to talk about a new social contract—one that women desperately need.

Putin, pugilism and pusillanimity

Paul Mason 29th November 2021

Paul Mason finds the democratic world in the very disarray the authoritarian in the Kremlin has sought.

Matteo Salvini’s League and the price of unbridled populism

Valerio Alfonso Bruno and Vittorio Emanuele Parsi 24th November 2021

The strength of populism is its simple message that ‘the people’ are traduced by an ‘elite’ linked to ‘foreign’ interlopers. That’s also its weakness.

The lure of progressive authoritarianism

Michael Bröning 19th November 2021

The left needs to rediscover the virtue of liberty.

Stopping democratic backsliding

Sheri Berman 1st November 2021

Sheri Berman argues that democracy today faces a more insidious threat than coups d’état—slow strangulation by elected autocrats.

The G20, the private sector and the vaccine, debt and climate crises

Katie Gallogly-Swan and Rebecca Ray 30th October 2021

G20 leaders meeting in Rome must recognise that only public purpose, not private profit, can tackle interconnected global crises.

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ETUI advertisement

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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Eurofound advertisement

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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Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

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

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

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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