Democracy

Habemus presidentem: With 401 votes in favour, the European Parliament has reconfirmed Ursula von der Leyen as the president of the European Commission. This vote was not a given. Unable to rely on the support of the super grand coalition of conservatives, social democrats, and liberals alone, von der Leyen went out of her way to secure Green votes in particular.

For the Hlas party, whose candidates won big in elections to the national legislature and the presidency in Slovakia, harsh anti-EU rhetoric and disinformation was a new tactic in the elections to the EP –  the wrong one, as it turned out.

The far-right Rassemblement National has surprisingly suffered a defeat in the French snap parliamentary elections - there is great relief in the country itself and also in the EU. However, forming a government could be complicated and take time, with France facing a phase of political paralysis. Marc Berthold, Director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's office in Paris, explains in this interview which constellations are possible and to what extent France's position in the EU could change.

Violence against women is particularly alarming, as one in three women have been subjected to physical or sexual violence. In this article, lawyer Ekaterini Georgiadou provides an unparalleled critical review of the legislative framework for gender-based violence in Greece. She examines the provisions of the Istanbul Convention and the severe concerns reflected in GREVIO's evaluation report about the implementation of the Convention in Greece. Furthermore, she focuses in particular on the newly adopted EU Directive on combating violence against women, which Member States are obliged to transpose into their national law within three years.

The European Parliament elections might be over, but that doesn’t mean that the constellation of power in the EU is all set in stone. In this episode, we’re looking at what the European election result means for the EU and the future of the Green Deal, how the Greens in the European Parliament are doing, what their priorities are and whether the Greens just might be a new power broker that’s necessary for the conservatives, social democrats and liberals to hold a stable majority. Roderick Kefferpütz, Director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's EU office, discusses this with Bas Eickhout, long-standing Member of the European Parliament from the Dutch Greens, and Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group.

Labour is still allergic to the E-word, says Ros Taylor. But the party’s manifesto offers hints of what a far closer relationship with the EU might look like.

The European election brought dissapointment to almost everyone in Athens, except to the far Right and the far Left. Yet, the most striking result was the collapse of the vote for the governing New Democracy – 10% of the registered electorate, one million people, abandoned Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ party in one year. What are the reasons for that? And why did the parties of the opposition not do better? An analysis by Pavlos Eleftheriadis, Professor of Legal Studies at NYU Abu Dhabi and a Senior Research Fellow at Mansfield College Oxford.

Europe has voted! The new European Parliament will shape the future trajectory of the European Union. The election results will not only influence the constellation of the next European Commission. They will also affect future EU policies such as democracy, climate, economy and social affairs. In this context, we discussed what are the main takeaways from the EP election results, what political groups will be formed, what majorities are possible, and what potential political alliances can be foreseen, and what does this mean for key issues such as the green transformation as well as the EU’s reform and enlargement agenda. With: Jan Philipp Albrecht, Prof. Simon Hix, Joanna Maria Stolarek, Dietrich Herrmann, Marc Berthold, Michalis Goudis, Nóra Köves, Armida van Rij, Mar Garcia Sanz, and Roderick Kefferpütz.

After the European elections, the democratic and pro-European forces in the European Parliament (EP) have been weakened. They must make cooperation much more binding in order to ensure reliable majorities for an effective EU.

Europe has voted! The new European Parliament will shape the future trajectory of the European Union. The election results will not only influence the constellation of the next European Commission. They will also affect future EU policies such as democracy, climate, economy and social affairs. In this context, we discussed what are the main takeaways from the EP election results, what political groups will be formed, what majorities are possible, and what potential political alliances can be foreseen, and what does this mean for key issues such as the green transformation as well as the EU’s reform and enlargement agenda. With Jan Philipp Albrecht, Prof. Simon Hix, Joanna Maria Stolarek, Dietrich Herrmann, Marc Berthold, Michalis Goudis, Nóra Köves, Armida van Rij, Mar Garcia Sanz, and Roderick Kefferpütz.