Europe
Hope and powerlessness: the world in new year 2025
The new year presents challenges amid global conflicts and power struggles, highlighting a deep sense of hopelessness. Yet, meaningful hope exists through activism and accountability in political leadership, as demonstrated by brave movements and public…
The EU and UK under Trump 2.0
A week after Trump’s election victory, the EU – and wider Europe including the UK – look weak and uncertain. Muddling through is not going to be enough in an increasingly unstable, conflict-ridden and climate-damaged…
Seven questions on the Council of the Nations and Regions
Keir Starmer is due to chair the inaugural meeting of the UK government’s newly created ‘Council of the Nations and Regions’ in Scotland this Friday. The summit is due to focus on investment and growth…
Eurosclerosis makes an unwelcome return
“Mario Draghi, former central banker turned technocratic premier, is warning the EU of a “slow agony” if it fails to invest in modernisation and catching-up on the US and China. That is no exaggeration. It…
EU climate challenges – and politics
“European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled her new team for the next five years. But are the climate and biodiversity crises going to receive the deep and urgent attention they need or…
Ten years after: the enduring case for indy in Europe
“The EU and independence debate have been inevitably intertwined in the last ten years since the independence referendum. The case for independence in the EU is strong in many ways. But why did Brexit not…
An alarming Alternative for Germany
“There is renewed talk, too, of “Ossifikation” or reasserting a specific east German identity rather than adopting a pan-German One after 34 years of unification. All of these factors but, most notably, xenophobia – the…
The AfD can win on an extremist platform
“It’s also significant that the AfD gained considerable support among voters under 30, reflecting a wider trend in Europe for younger people, particularly men, to increasingly lean towards far-right positions.”
Blowing up the transatlantic bridge
The imminent advent of a Trump 2.0 presidency is concentrating the mind of Europeans as they confront more tumultuous instability at home and abroad. More Europe is, with all its attendant risks, the only preferred…
George Orwell and Europe’s new normal
“We once believed that workers’ rights, the green transition and sustainable development were signs of wisdom and modernity. Today these are painted as ideological slogans bordering on madness,” writes Prof Zielonka on the outcome of…
Who wants to (re)join the EU?
The UK needs a serious debate about re-joining the EU….A substantial majority now backs re-join yet Labour (and the Tories) don’t want to discuss even easing the UK’s hard Brexit, let alone what UK politics…
Europe’s populists back Putin over Ukraine
Farage and his Reform party are part of a Far Right tilt to overtly pro-Putin positions across Europe: “The issues facing Europe are enormous and the rise of the far right is further evidence of…