Echoing the famous feminist mantra ‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman’ this article argues in a similar vein that ‘one is not born (un)productive, but rather becomes so’, to highlight the socially constructed and highly gendered dimension of this core economic concept of productivity. The beginning of a new year is the […]
OECD
As we contemplate the building of a health union, we can no longer ignore mental health problems which will affect one in two people at some point in their life. The EU’s approach to health must go beyond physical ailments. Our Union already has the mandate to protect our well-being and can make a tangible […]
When the former German Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, became President of the European Commission in December 2019, she pledged to transform the EU into a more relevant geopolitical actor. While Europe’s identity had for a long time been rooted in the idea of the Union exerting normative power, that is, influencing the global […]
In early March 2022, EU housing ministers met informally for the first time in almost ten years. They had much to discuss – the housing crisis in Europe is evident. There is no country, no region, and no city where people are not suffering from the rising cost of housing. The ministers’ response was ambivalent. […]
The international community seems to be moving towards a historic agreement on the taxation of multinational corporations, hoping to end the race to the bottom by imposing a global minimum tax. At their meeting in Rome, the G20 leaders endorsed the underlying framework created under the auspices of the OECD. The current 100-year-old system was […]
The year of 2020 brought us a pandemic and the most severe economic shock of our lives. Notwithstanding, while facing both challenges, member states were still able to come together and find joint ways to address the health crisis and to deliver on a recovery package, designed to relaunch our economy. The European Union showed, […]