To what extent should the state intervene in the economy? Political debates on this issue often follow a false dichotomy. We take for granted that the Left favours a high degree of state intervention, while onservatives are associated with support for free markets. The important question is not the extent of state intervention but rather the nature of the legislation that we must adopt in order to best serve the interests of the broad majority.
The Polish parliamentary election held on 25 October, took place in the middle of an unprecedented refugee crisis in Europe and in the context of rising support for right-wing populist movements in almost all EU Member States. Download our event report to see if and how the migration issue affected the election and for an overall analysis.
Many people assume, as if it were self-evident, that we live in a market economy. We like to believe that markets are guided by collective intelligence. Supply and demand set prices and the scale of production. Markets aggregate the decisions of many thousands of actors who, independently of one another, buy and sell goods and services. However, can we honestly say that we live in a market economy?
How will the Greek election result, the policy of the new Greek government and the EU’s way of dealing with it affect the elections in Portugal and Spain, the situation in the Eurozone and the European project as a whole?
Romania and Hungary: different countries, different histories, different roads travelled, but the questions to be asked are the same: where did things go wrong, what is it the EU could have done differently and what needs to be done to keep both countries on the right track and offer a positive perspective to the people?
The recent European elections have clearly demonstrated that (too) many people have lost faith in Europe and its politicians. They do no longer trust their ability to make things better. But, is Europe’s decline really irreversible?
Despite (or maybe rather because) of its unique achievements, the very essence of a European Union is being undermined by populist, revisionist and nationalist forces, including the dismissal of notions such as a 'European identity’, and a ‘collective European memory’. Yet the commonality of experience, past and present, is at the very core of the European project. How can we restore European memory and can it still be a driving force behind the European Union?
Are the EU-institutions and the Member States ready to continue and strengthen the integration process, will they try harder to reach out to citizens and re-involve them in the project, which has given them more than 60 years of peace and relative prosperity? Or will European countries return to their nationalist end egoistic past with all the consequences? And, what about Germany? Embedded in the European Union, the reunited country has become the most powerful, stable and wealthy European state. It owes the European project its success, but is it ready to play a leading role in the further integration process?