Inside Europe

The rise of far-right has brought to the forefront the debate about whether such ideas should or not have a public say and as to whether they should occupy public space and time. Many even argue that if... Be More Curious...

What are universities for in an era of authoritarianism?

Zeynep Mentesoglu

16/01/2019

“This is unprecedented. A U.S. institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO ally. A European institution has been ousted from a member state of the EU” stated the CEU president Michael Ignatieff referring to the end of his universi... Be More Curious...

The Battle for Europe: Europe in 2019

12/01/2019

2019 is shaping up to be an exciting, if worrisome, year for Europe. While everything seems to be slowing down in preparation for the eventual hand-over of institutional positions, time never stands sti... Be More Curious...

OPINION — Why is tension in Cyprus rising again?

Tionenji Lishomwa

27/12/2018

Inside Europe, Turkey

For much of the international community watching, ‘Ayşe will go on holiday again’ means very little. Especially if 1974 is before your time, you may have wondered what such a bizarrely innocuous phrase ... Be More Curious...

OPINION — Spanish banks and Supreme Court at work: housing bubble under construction

Arnau Perello

24/12/2018

Business, Inside Europe

The lack of independence of the judiciary system, its sloppy performance, as well as the lack of control of rent increases by the successive governments, remain rampant in Spain. All of these are exemplified by a recent case on a mortgage paperwork ta... Be More Curious...

OPINION — VOX: the ultra-right enters the political game in Spain

Alejandra Finotto

20/12/2018

Given the ascent of ultra-right political parties such as the “Rassemblement National” led by Le Pen in France, or the “Lega Nord” headed by Salvini in Italy, many were wondering why this kind of moveme... Be More Curious...

OPINION — Where Hungary’s future lies

Leonardo Veneziani

19/12/2018

The fall of the Berlin Wall and of the Soviet Union, in 1989 and 1991 respectively, were a sign of fate. From that moment on, a large part of Europe was finally free from despotism and tyranny that went... Be More Curious...

COMMENTARY — As Soros University leaves Hungary, so does academic freedom

15/12/2018

On 3 December 2018, Hungary’s Central European University (CEU) declared that it has been forced out from its campus in Budapest by the far-right government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The decision came after months of attempts by the U.S. gover... Be More Curious...

Brexit: the never-ending story continues

11/12/2018

Theresa May had hoped that 11 December 2018 would become a historic day, where her parliament would vote to pass the Withdrawal Agreement, signalling the end of Britain’s participation within the Europ... Be More Curious...

Huge disparities in European breast cancer care shown by new index

Editorial

11/12/2018

With nearly 100,000 women lose their life to breast cancer every year in the European Union it is the most lethal cancer diagnosis for women in the EU. And while health systems of the 28 differ... Be More Curious...

Forget enlargement. First, the EU needs a ‘war on corruption’ to stave off extreme nationalism

Youssef Kobo

10/12/2018

Since the Schuman and Europe Declarations in 1950 and 1951 respectively, it has been the stated aim of the EU to strengthen democracy amongst its members. The EU is, contrary to sceptical or reductionist views of the union, about more than territorial uni... Be More Curious...

OPINION — Democracy under Threat? The Future of Democracy in the European Union

Yoeri Maertens

03/12/2018

Last week East-Flanders' Europe Direct Information Centre hosted a lively debate about the future of the European Union. Senior transatlantic fellow of the German Marshall Fund Rosa Balfour and Fidesz M... Be More Curious...

REPORT — High Level Conference, 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

01/12/2018

On 20 November 2018, the European Parliament (EP) held a High Level Conference to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Conference launched the EP’s... Be More Curious...

COMMENTARY — Brexit: a promising agreement for Northern Ireland but many challenges ahead

Bob Groome

28/11/2018

The recently published withdrawal agreement spells the beginning of the end for Brexit. Theresa May and the EU believe the agreement is the best outcome resulting from the EU-UK negotiations. This 585-page withdrawal Treaty agreed by the European Union... Be More Curious...

COMMENTARY — European army: a problematic dream?

27/11/2018

The concept of a European army has been widely discussed in the past years and particularly weeks, raising many questions about the possibility of such an idea becoming a reality. Where did the noti... Be More Curious...

Brexit threatens to turn EU’s divide into an unbridgeable chasm

Ebubekir ISIK

15/11/2018

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, recently wrote an article condemning those “mini-Trumps” who are driven, not by genuine desire for reform, but “power and personal enric... Be More Curious...

80 years after Kristallnacht — A new wave of anti-semitism in Europe

Xavier Ruiz Trullols

08/11/2018

Pittsburgh attack proved why we can’t ignore anti-Semitism. The Anti-Defamation League warned that there was an increase of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017 compared to the previous year. The US has often been seen as the safest coun... Be More Curious...

POLICY PAPER — The power of Article 7: Protection of European values or punishment tool? An analysis of the Polish case

29/10/2018

Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) defines the EU as founded on the values of “respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, inc... Be More Curious...

The Threats from Within: Road to the 2019 EU Elections

24/10/2018

The elections are approaching. On 23-26 May 2019, the citizens of the European Union will be called to vote for their representatives in the European Parliament. The elections take place every five year... Be More Curious...

Nigel Farage Pleads for a Europe of Sovereign Nation-States

Yoeri Maertens

12/10/2018

Listen the entire speech by Nigel Farage Two weeks ago, Nigel Farage was invited by the Flemish nationalist and conservative student association KVHV to give a guest lecture at Ghent University, Belgium. In his speech, Farage lashed out at the Europ... Be More Curious...

EU-movie quotas are cultural protectionism

Bill Wirtz

10/10/2018

The European Parliament calls for a 30 per cent mandatory quota of European productions for audiovisual content providers, surpassing the Commission's suggested 20 per cent. We have to call this proposa... Be More Curious...

Franco’s will

Arnau Perello

09/10/2018

It has become customary in Spain, whenever a so-called socialist cabinet starts its new mandate, to approve some eye-catching law. In this way, the new government always looks more liberal than the prev... Be More Curious...

Riace case: Are pro-migrant authorities under attack?

Zeynep Mentesoglu

08/10/2018

Inside Europe, Society

"What will all the do-gooders who want to fill Italy with immigrants say now?" wwrote Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini referring to the arrest of Domenico Lucano, known by his migrant friendly integration policies at the sparsely populate... Be More Curious...

Was it a coup d’état on 10 August 2018, in Victory square, Bucharest?

Ana-Maria Caminski

06/10/2018

After more than a month, the military prosecutors did not make light in the opened file for vandalism acts that took place in the night of 10 August 2018, in Bucharest. Who bears the responsibility for ... Be More Curious...

Kicking out at Britain won’t save the European Court of Human Rights

Ebubekir ISIK

01/10/2018

Five years after Edward Snowden released his incendiary cache of documents, the mass surveillance programme run by Britain’s GCHQ has been deemed illegal by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In... Be More Curious...

The reasons why the EU mustn’t be gentle on Climate Change

Richard Senneville

30/09/2018

American cellular biologist, college professor and politician Barry Commoner claimed that the first law of ecology is that everything is connected to everything else. It took decades for the environmental concerns to be embedded in public life and even... Be More Curious...

As Europeans, we are living in a unique experiment that we should be proud of

Vladan Lausevic

30/09/2018

Five years ago Croatia became EU's 28th member-state. The accession process was seen as in important step for the Balkan region and the “Ex-Yugoslav area” to become Europeanized. One interesting thin... Be More Curious...

Following an Illiberal Path: Dragnea and Romania’s Judiciary Reforms

Xavier Palacios

30/09/2018

The latest demonstrations that took place in Romania this last summer have showed that the figure of Liviu Dragnea is polarising Romanian society. As in other cases of power accumulation in political fi... Be More Curious...

The EU should embrace Allan Savory’s Holistic Management in its sustainable development policy

Richard Senneville

30/09/2018

There is a much bigger problem than global warming that humanity must overcome: changing mindset is the biggest challenge in all cultures and societies. When we think about the causes of global warming we immediately focus on human-related greenhouse gas... Be More Curious...

Germany is delaying the adoption of the “Google tax”, and that’s a good thing

Bill Wirtz

25/09/2018

Business, Inside Europe

While France and Spain are heavily lobbying for the adoption of a "GAFA" tax (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple), also known as "Google tax", Germany has chosen a more careful approach. Rightfully so. ... Be More Curious...

Is the European Arrest Warrant Becoming a Political Tool?

Joseph Hammond

25/09/2018

All opinions in this column reflect view of the autor(s), not of Vocal Europe The saga of one of the European Union’s most problematic policies took an unusual turn late last month with an EU judicial ... Be More Curious...

Will a European Plastics Ban really help the Environment?

Richard Mason

22/09/2018

Over the course of this year, it seems as though the debate on environmental protection has greatly shifted to the issue of plastics, namely the effects of ill-disposed of waste on marine life. This is no bad thing; the disastrous consequences of p... Be More Curious...

The lady’s not for turning

21/09/2018

Theresa May’s disastrous participation in the Salzburg summit was evidently fresh in her memory. She was described as having “showed too much arrogance” in a miscalculation similar to David Cameron, had... Be More Curious...

Fighting Online Terrorist Speech

Editorial

20/09/2018

William Echikson, a former senior policy manager at Google, is head of the Digital Forum at the Centre for European Policy Studies. David Ibsen is Executive Director for the Counter Extremism Project (CE... Be More Curious...

Why they just don’t get it

20/09/2018

Another suffocatingly hot day in the Palace of Westminster and another all-party parliamentary group meet in committee to discuss Brexit. Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on a Better Brexit for Y... Be More Curious...

Sweden Elections: One Crisis, Two Major Parties, Numerous Outcomes

Christina Cigir

14/09/2018

Sweden’s recent elections has left a dual impression among many people: impressed and unimpressed. Ever since the 2015 migration crisis, Sweden has been placed in a predicament. This exact predicament h... Be More Curious...

Politics of the Street: How to respond to Germany’s far-right revival?

Julius M. Rogenhofer

13/09/2018

The German far-right successfully instrumentalises crimes allegedly committed by refugees to mobilise its supporters. These often violent rallies reveal an open affiliation of members of the Alternative... Be More Curious...

Juncker’s State of the Union Speech: Time for European Sovereignty

Clara Berthelot

12/09/2018

This morning was marked by the annual State of the Union speech to the European Parliament by the President of the European Commission in Strasbourg. Jean-Claude Juncker spoke for the fourth and last time of his mandate before up coming 2019 European e... Be More Curious...

EESC — Youth, digital and cooperation as pills to foster the European spirit

Sergio Caliva

12/09/2018

After the Commission’s adoption of the “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg)”, on the 7... Be More Curious...

Can Macron still create a political cataclysm for the European election?

Clara Berthelot

10/09/2018

With the European elections coming up in 2019, Emmanuel Macron’s possibilities to change the political landscape at the European level seem to not be as easy as expected. The last week of August was mar... Be More Curious...

Can a Bavarian Make Europe Great Again?

Christina Cigir

07/09/2018

As the 2019 elections for the European Union’s commission president approach, the ongoing talks about an ideal candidate has granted its attention to leader of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber. What are the expectations of the European Uni... Be More Curious...

Polish and Romanian civil society in fighting for the freedom of Justice

Ana-Maria Caminski

05/09/2018

The times when the Law protected their citizens are passed away. With more than a century ago, nobody would ever thought after the falling down of the Czarist Imperium that a Law could be given in order... Be More Curious...

Looking Globally – Europe with Hard Power

Editorial

31/08/2018

There have been a few moments in the last century of Modern Europe’s history that shaped the structure of the continent for the next decades. Without any doubt, World War One and World War Two have trul... Be More Curious...

Europe’s Concerns about Maldives Are Growing

Bartolome T. Carvajal

24/08/2018

Europeans do not usually think about the Maldives in geopolitical terms, but rather as an idyllic holiday destination in the middle of the Indian Ocean. However, the fact is that this tiny island nation is yet another example from across the world in w... Be More Curious...

Nearly a year of pre-trial imprisonment with no legal grounds, despite German Court ruling

Arnau Perello

23/08/2018

Two events have weakened Spain's reputation in the last month. The first one is the case of the €4 billion submarines that are too big for its own dock - after the modification that allowed them to floa... Be More Curious...

Four countries, one threat

Ana-Maria Caminski

22/08/2018

On the chessboard of the world, every pawn seems to be an important pawn. Especially when the stake of the game is the expansion of the political power by gaining of the old sphere of influence and the ... Be More Curious...

Robbery at Portuguese Base offers lesson for NATO

Joseph Hammond

08/08/2018

Grenades and high-explosives taken from Portuguese military base in a brazen heist are still unaccounted for over a year later. Portugal marked the first anniversary of a series of deadly wild fires early this year. As Portugal marks the first annive... Be More Curious...

EU elections: what remains to be known before 2019

Bartolome T. Carvajal

05/08/2018

The European Union is at a turning point, and 2019 will be the major benchmark in this process. If it all goes according to planned, the UK will leave the EU in March, and two months later, the European... Be More Curious...

Puigdemont is back, what is next?

Alessio Tardivo

03/08/2018