Commentary

Fridays for Future – When politics fail

The youth strikes for climate have gathered pupils and students in the streets worldwide, every Friday since last August, when Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish school student, initiated the movement in Sweden. The movement peaked on 15 March, with the world school strike for climate. According to Greenpeace, 1.6 million young people left their schools or universities to demonstrate around the world in more than 110 countries. The next global youth strike for climate is planned for 24 May.

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Why a European Italy is necessary

“The future of the European Union is in our hands: the European Union is the best tool to achieve our goals”. It seems as if it were decades ago that this statement was made. The Italian government had strongly pursued and desired this declaration. Indeed, on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty (…)

Wednesday 24 April 2019

Let us leave crisis mode!

Brexit is the last bit in a long chain of events that have put our politicians in permanent crisis mode. “This needs to end: We must look to the future!” says Ludger Wortmann.

Friday 12 April 2019

EU institutions should be changed, not renamed

Who needs the European Parliament when you can have a Chamber of European Citizens? The Council, when you can have a Senate? The Commission, when you can have a European Government? The European Union, when you can have a United States of Europe? Renaming an institution can be an attractive way to signal a break with the past. This precisely is the reason why the institutions shouldn’t be renamed even as the EU develops.

Wednesday 10 April 2019

Manfred Weber needs to look to his left to find allies

When the Spitzenkandidaten process was introduced in the 2014 European elections, the standard explanation was that the biggest party’s lead candidate would automatically become the European Commission President. In 2019, the system has evolved, and for example the system of party primaries made (…)

Friday 5 April 2019

Brexit is doing untold damage to a Europe of citizens – and the EU is complicit in it

The British government rightly deserves the criticism it is getting, but we also need to take a closer look at the conduct of the EU, Andrew Scott writes.

Thursday 21 March 2019

Why should the EU recognize the State of Palestine?

The European Union (EU) and its member states have always been divided in their position vis-à-vis Palestine and its international recognition. Several member states have recognized the State of Palestine before acceding to the EU, states including, but not limited to, Hungary and Czech (…)

Sunday 24 February 2019

View from Spain: The politics of hatred has come to Europe

A wave of hatred has been gradually creeping into the parliaments of European countries and could potentially reach the very presidency of the European Parliament. If we were to compare this phenomenon to an illness, even the latter does less harm than the hatred and rejection which certain (…)

Saturday 23 February 2019

The permanent seat of the European Parliament: why not Brussels?

Two weeks ago, our author Andreea Camen argued for the European Parliament’s permanent seat to be moved to Strasbourg once and for all. While finally abandoning the travelling circus would put an end to wasting taxpayers’ money, it is still contested where the permanent seat should eventually be. All Franco-German symbolism aside, Bastian De Monte thinks there can only be one city to host our most important institution: Brussels.

Friday 15 February 2019

The permanent seat of the European Parliament: Why not Strasbourg?

On January 14, deputy prime minister and Five Star Movement leading figure Luigi Di Maio travelled from Italy to Strasbourg by minivan to kick off his party’s campaign for the European elections. He took the opportunity to point out the yearly cost of the MEPs “grand déménagement” from Brussels (…)

Monday 28 January 2019

Europe’s Green New Deal

Do you remember the New Deal, when Franklin D. Roosevelt saved America by taking control, over 5 years, of its economy? Or maybe have you only heard about the Green New Deal? If neither of these rings a bell, you’re doubtless aware of the climate emergency in which we find ourselves, and the (…)

Saturday 26 January 2019

When there are no European parties to respond to citizens’ demands, you get populism

At the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium, with the spread of the economic and financial crisis all over the world, the idea that the difference between the left and the right had vanished influenced national political arenas. The truth is a bit different, however.

Wednesday 16 January 2019
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