Democracy

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union office in Brussels is welcoming applications for the open position of Accountant, to be filled as of 1 March 2024. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 15 January 2025, 23:59 CET.

DSA launch, platform obligations, and enforcement challenges – the Digital Services Act is another piece of transforming online regulation in Europe. With the DSA rolling out new rules, many are asking how effectively they’ll be implemented. We posed three key questions to Dr. Tobias Mast, expert advisor to the German Bundestag on the DSA, to get his insights on the launch, the hurdles ahead, and how the DSA aims to balance the scales between platforms and users.

An umbrella does not shield against flooding. For the European Democracy Shield to do what it says, it must encompass the full spectrum of hybrid threats, not only foreign disinformation. Like any shield, it is only as strong as its bearer. If it is to be more than a fig leaf, our work to defend democracy must start at home.

As we approach the US presidential election, it's clear that its implications will extend far beyond American borders, resonating profoundly within Europe. This election represents a critical juncture for Europe’s political and economic landscape, especially concerning the future of Ukraine and the broader European security order.

Hungary's ambitious plan to reindustrialise hinges on bringing in hundreds of thousands of migrant workers. However, this strategy faces a significant hurdle: a society already grappling with deep-seated distrust, both among its citizens and towards the influx of foreign labour.

This series of policy papers provides impetus for the EU reform debate to make the European Union more effective, democratic, ecological and socially just. Our conclusion: Germany can play a decisive role in a successful reform process. 

As American voters have become more firmly entrenched in their party affiliations, fewer and fewer states are in contention and the margins of victory are increasingly slim. This year, polls suggest that in the handful of swing states that will determine the race, the winner could be decided by a razor-thin margin. Votes for third party candidates could be enough to tip the election – most likely, in favor of Donald Trump.