The Eastern member states of the EU have seen impressive economic growth since joining the European Union. This is especially true for the Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary), but also, for example, for Slovenia, Romania or Lithuania. In almost all of the ‘accession countries’, the economic development was far better than predicted […]
Progressive Page
Weekly opinion articles interpreting current political and social developments in Europe and the wider world from a progressive perspective
The Russian aggression against Ukraine with its manifold consequences determined politics and life in Europe in 2022, and it will continue to do so in 2023. From the point of view of country size, Europe’s largest country invaded the second largest one. The effects have been not only European but global. It is primarily the […]
How can the European centre-left advance an agenda based on industrial policy, social partnership and the integration of the labour interest into the apparatus of the state? Thoughts from a roundtable in London. The future of work is often treated as principally a question of technology. The impression is given that we find ourselves in […]
The terms and the time horizon of a peace solution in Ukraine remain highly uncertain and will shape our possible futures for the times ahead. But this should not delay a stronger response to the challenges of the 21st century we are confronted with. The outlook for 2023 clearly shows that we are entering a […]
On 15 November, the United Nations’ estimates of world population passed the 8-billion milestone. On that day, baby girl Vinice Mabansa, born in a maternity hospital of Manila, was designated as the eight billionth person on earth. The choice of one of the global south’s busiest cities and the capital of the Philippines, a prominent […]
After several postponements, the European Commission put forward an orientation for a reform of the EU economic governance framework on 9 November. Now, hopefully, a real political discussion can take off. Since the global financial crisis in 2007, the sovereign debt crisis, the migration and climate emergency and the emergence of the EU Green Deal, […]