Articles

Philippe Legrain's speech to the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union, 8 October 2014. Legrain is the author of European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess - and How to Put Them Right.

Recent actions taken by Hungarian police against NGOs is not a singular manifestation of the excessive use of force. It is a logical consequence of Viktor Orbán’s campaign waged against the civil sector.

The Ban Ki-moon Climate Summit, with the expected participation of more than 120 heads of states and high-ranking government officials from over 160 countries, is not part of the official UN climate negotiations process. Nevertheless, when the UN Secretary General announced the special summit more than a year ago, he did so certainly in hopes that government heads would strive to display decisive actions and announce ambitious emissions reduction goals to grease the path to a new global climate deal post-2020.

In many countries, solar energy is enjoying great success – photovoltaic modules are increasingly affordable and available to those interested in producing their own electricity. In the Czech Republic, however, those investing in and building solar power stations must constantly resist efforts by the government to destabilise the business environment, writes Martin Sedlák, Director of the Alliance for Energy Independence.

Many of the current problems are clearly generational ̶  with the older generations accepting the rituals and the language of democracy, but not being able to internalise democratic values.

Etre sérieux  en politique, c'est d'abord appeler les choses par leur nom.

The commemorative tsunami that Europe is gearing up for gives us pause as to our relationship to history and the political use that is made of it.

Europeans have only just understood the meaning of the First World War when they now have to interpret the significance of the Second World War. Claus Leggewie writes about the new beginning in European memory.

The French version of the study ‘Renewables: The Only Path to a Secure, Affordable and Climate-friendly Energy System by 2030’, published today by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union, demonstrates that a renewable strategy would prove to be much cheaper for the EU than a conventional strategy.

Confronted with a different external and internal environment than its predecessors, the new external leadership trio Juncker-Mogherini-Tusk should however constructively strengthen and contribute to the practices of shared leadership and coopetition between EU Member States.