Reconnecting Europe blog

It is less than 100 days until the European elections kicks off in the first EU member state: the Netherlands will be heading to the polls on Thursday, 23 May, with the remaining countries to follow until Sunday, 26 May. After this, we will know how the 450 million eligible EU voters have decided (not) to vote.

The question keeps returning: What's next with Brexit? If the UK would like to opt for an Art. 50 extension, it will first have to ask the European Council where all 27 Member States would have to agree unanimously. The British Government undertook and takes a long walk from fantasy to reality...

We invite you to read the new texts published as part of the German-Polish European Blog. In the In the current edition we present the Polish and German perspective on relations with  Western Balkans.

What if... the Eurozone became a real transfer union to reduce economic inequality and increasing social unrest between and within Member States? Read our last post on the Reconnecting Europe blog and find more topics that shaped the EU in 2018.

In the early days of his mandate Erdoğan presented himself as one of the main defenders of women’s rights. However, after 2010 the government focused predominantly on religious themes and defined gender roles more and more traditionally and restrictive. According to surveys, nearly 50% of all Turkish women have experienced domestic violence and the political climate is increasingly discriminating against women.

Every European country has its semi-fictional national story, typically manufactured sometime in the 19th Century by a group of romantic intellectuals keen to impress a sense of cultural pride on their compatriots. In the case of my own country, Britain, that story has been used to devastating effect in recent years to splinter us off from the rest of the EU.

The Russian World assumes that there is a distinctive Russian civilisation with its own territory to be governed by a single political and religious authority. However a reunificaton of the 'divided world' between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine is more propaganda than reality.  

Şebnem Fincancı was rewarded for her lifelong engagement for investigating on torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The manual she published in 1999 has been accpeted as official document by the United Nations and serves as handbook and guideline for doctors, lawyers and judges. However torture remains a reality in Turkish prisons. And not only.

The tectonic plaques of the eurozone are again on the move. The rise of populism and the extreme-right is not the beginning but rather the result of a long process of political flaws and errors. The Italian national budget proposal oposes the Italian government and the European Commission. But it is not about pro or contra the EU but about delayed and short-term reforms in the fiscal governance. 

Violation of human rights, deportation and colonization of the Crimean population and territory by Russia has a long history. ‘The Soviet period was a real nightmare for the Crimea Tatars’, and still is today. Four years after the annexation of Crimea by Russia, European political leaders continue to sidestep the issue of Crimea. 

The Sargentini report showed divisions between Eastern and Western European countries as well as between left and right wing tendencies. It also evidenced that illiberal policies have to face political consequences at European level. Other governments such as Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, though, make less a public display of their illiberal steps.

The migration question has only been addressed with short-term answers in response to a situation perceived as urgency and ‘problem’. But could a legal migration not rather be part of the solution and contribute to develop a real vision of a diverse society? 

Theresa May lacks support, the Conservative UK government is divided such as the British Left and positions are most ambiguous! Difficult premises to negotiate a country's future: ‘If Corbyn and his allies are serious about social and economic justice then the first thing they can do is to prevent Brexit.’ 

After 21 consecutive quarters of positive evolution of the eurozone, one might think that the euro crisis is permanently over. But the eurozone has been playing with fire for too long. It has imposed policies with large economic and social costs, while ignoring fundamental and long lasting weaknesses in the design of the euro architecture. 

Orbán openly threatens the EPP and uses the topic of migration as a pretext to gain credit and form new alliances in the EU. He also continues buidling an illiberal state passing a legal and constitutional package which is deadly for democratic institutions. However ignoring Orban only creates a huge wave of democratic backsliding in the EU. 

The present critical policy issues, namely the management of migration and common borders, the cooperation with neighbouring countries, the reform of defence structures and doctrine as well as the ongoing endemic flaws of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) could be addressed using resources drawn from a common budget. 

A mortal division breaks through Brexit but is also an inherent problem of the European project. The duopoly between the market and the nation and which one to value most calls for a model for an alternative and different Europe. Europeans need rather more then less Europe.  

Civil society and citizens take over the duties in welcoming refugees where Member States and the EU fail. Parts of civil society have awoken across borders to contest policies and laws that they believe to be contrary to the ‘core principles’ of both Member States and the EU, as well as contrary to broader humanitarian, religious or political principles. 

The result of the election in Turkey confirms Erdoğan's leading position but also means the dismanteling of democratic structures and civil liberties as well as the continuous war on Kurds. With a consolidated AKP, the future looks hard for opposition parties. 

Putin’s politics of memory constitutes a key pillar of the social legitimisation of his authoritarian regime.The rehabilitation of Stalin is strongly correlated with the growth of the neo-imperialistic worldview in Russian society.