It is now proverbial that the coronavirus recession was better managed from the point of view of macroeconomics than the previous major crisis in Europe: that of the eurozone. Austerity has been by and large avoided, and social cohesion has been better preserved through solidarity at all levels. Where the distinction has to be particularly […]
Social protection
Even though the general election in Malta brought an excellent result for Labour, with an overwhelming majority, it was an eye-opener for both major parties. Despite the very high voter turn-out by European standards (85.5 per cent), in Malta’s democratic past it was a historical low: a 60-year low, to be exact. For comparison: our […]
The coronavirus pandemic has warped all sense of time as we have lurched from Delta to Omicron, and from closings to grand openings, only to swing back again. In the best of times, Americans have an endearing political amnesia that allows us to move past crisis with both a creative verve for future innovations, but […]
The labour status of people working in the online platform economy is key to their socio-economic protection. But it has proven a difficult issue for courts and regulators. The EU is considering introducing a ‘rebuttable presumption of employment’ to help address this problem. What could this entail exactly? For some time now, one of the […]
Last week’s elections in the Netherlands show a disastrous result for the three traditional left-wing parties. But defining themselves by emphasising their differences, steadily diminishes their common impact. There is a debate on uniting these three parties into one. A major intervention is certainly required, but a merger should not be the only solution. This […]