Counter-democracy to the rescue of Europe
A longer version of this article was published in the French edition of Le Monde diplomatique in March 2014. The European project has gone through several distinct phases which are closely linked to...
View ArticleFrom a Green reboot of democracy to a democratic reboot of the Greens
What we want to discuss is the dual significance of the “sustainability of democracy”: 1. the capacity of democratic systems to be “sustainable”, and to be transmitted to the future generations; 2. the...
View ArticleDemocratic dispossession
This article was first published in La Revue Nouvelle,n° 4-5, April-May 2014. In France, Italy and Spain, as well as in some Scandinavian and Eastern European countries, opinion polls show a downward...
View ArticleAlterfederalism as a way of rethinking the crisis of Europe
In November 2011 the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs made a speech in Berlin that made waves in our country. Although the words, which appealed for European unity and for Germany to bear more...
View ArticleInvisibility, Globalisation and the Limits of the Political Language
The interview was conducted by Erica Meijers, for our partner publication De Helling. You use the term invisibility. What does it mean in your understanding? Generally our times are characterised with...
View ArticleFor a Europe that unites, rather than divides people
At the time of writing, we have just witnessed how the strongest member states of the EU, led by an inflexible German government, humiliated Greece without mercy, as a warning to other potential...
View ArticlePortugal: The Crisis and New Actors Against Austerity
Even though new Portuguese anti-austerity, civil society projects or networks succeeded in mobilising civil society between 2011 and 2013; about one year after the Troika has left the country, only...
View Article‘We shouldn’t be wasting peoples’ lives’ – Jean Lambert on the plight of...
Europeans have to make their societies genuinely inclusive, and Greens could play a constructive role in making this work – says Green MEP Jean Lambert, in an interview with the Green European...
View Article“We will manage!” – The challenge of integration
The media was outraged when, after only a week of “Willkommenskultur”, the German government announced its intention to suspend the Schengen agreement and temporarily close the border with Austria....
View Article“We Cannot Support Violence of Any Kind” – The Challenge of Doing Politics in...
As the HDP have gained ground, they have also faced mounting challenges. The party’s representatives and offices have frequently been the target of violent attacks throughout the election campaigns....
View ArticleCriminalising Solidarity: When Helping Refugees Becomes a Risk
The influx of refugees to the shores of Greek islands has generally been met with overwhelming support from locals, eager to provide much needed aid to the refugees. However, on the island of Lesbos,...
View ArticleReviving or Overcoming Borders: A Choice for Europe
As a result of the refugee crisis, the concept of borders has been revived across Europe. Displacement on this scale, cannot simply be stopped at the borders. In this interview, Antonis Galanopoulos...
View ArticleThe EU’s Dirty Deal
Tourism agencies, ticket offices and insurance offices are lined up on a street that leads the way to the final destination: Visa Application Centre. Nervous crowds gather in front of its door early...
View ArticleCeci n’est pas un “agreement”: The Treachery of EU Migration Policies
It would be an illusion to believe that irregular migration will come to an end as a result of the legally dubious deal agreed between EU leaders and Turkey on 18 March 2016. Instead, we should...
View ArticleThe Anxieties That (Dis)Unite: Terrorism and the Forces of Integration
In a pattern mirroring the economic crisis, instead of supporting a collaborative European solution, many of the Member States’ governments opt for more expensive, complicated and nationalist...
View ArticleCrossing Crises: Assessing the Mutual Impact of the Euro and the Schengen crises
It’s difficult to point to a time in recent years when European integration was not under pressure. Yet presently, the problem-solving capacity of the European Union definitely seems to be exhausted,...
View ArticleResilience Under Shock: Time for a Paradigm Shift
Governments compete on the global market for medical equipment produced elsewhere. Squeezed public sectors are stretched beyond their limits and the social consequences of shutdowns reverberate across...
View ArticleStronger Public Health, Stronger Europe
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely tested the limits of European cohesion. In times of crisis, member states have reacted by closing borders and hoarding supplies rather than coordinating and sharing...
View ArticleNew Climate Politics: A Reading List
Amid deepening economic inequalities, raging conflicts and record-breaking weather events, the world seems locked in a cycle of shocks in which the Covid-19 pandemic marked an escalation. In failing...
View ArticleCriminalising Solidarity: When Helping Refugees Becomes a Risk
The influx of refugees to the shores of Greek islands has generally been met with overwhelming support from locals, eager to provide much needed aid to the refugees. However, on the island of Lesbos,...
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