When Vladimir Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, Europeans had a simple choice: increase or decrease their energy dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Europeans chose to increase. National governments like Spain and France could have freed themselves from Russian gas just by implementing their own national building renovation plans. But they chose not to.
France
While several Social Democratic and Socialist parties are regaining a certain electoral audience in Western Europe, in the French presidential race, the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo won 1.75 per cent – the lowest for the Socialist Party since the beginning of the Fifth Republic. Hidalgo cannot be held as the only one responsible for this […]
In a rematch of the 2017 election, President Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen of the far-right Rassemblement National. Macron is the first incumbent president to get elected for a second consecutive term in the past 20 years. On the face of it, it seems a comfortable victory for Macron who won with 58.5 per […]
In the shadow of the war in Ukraine and the French presidential election, the Slovene parliamentary election took place on Sunday 24 April. The outcome of the election in Slovenia was important primarily for reinvigorating democracy in Slovenia. But it was also important for the future of democracy in Europe. The resounding electoral ‘no’ to […]
The EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia on 6 October ended with a renewed sense of heightened impatience with the blockages in the accession processes of the six candidate countries. There is an urgent need for the economic and investment plan, that was proposed exactly one year ago, to materialise – especially as it is a […]
Populism is on the rise all over the developed world. In many parts of Europe, populist parties have seen their share of votes multiply in recent years. The analysis of these movements often concentrates on the motivations of individual voters. But one crucial factor has largely remained under the radar: the long-term economic decline of […]
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