Welfare and Social Issues

What is the similarity to the Arab Spring? A complete social uprising, which has since mobilised Quebec’s social-democratic and predominantly French speaking society, with an unemployment rate below 7%.

In October 2011, the Heinrich Boell foundation presented the results of a long collaborative project on the future of Europe. This project was an invitation to debate the project that we wish to see implemented for Europe in the 21st century. This reaction calls for a debate to be developed on two levels: firstly, to debate the causes and solutions to bring to the crisis and, secondly, the transitional dialogue to undertake in order to widen the social base of a renewed concept of European solidarity.

As with every presidential election, France is addressing national issues and shrugging off those promoted by the Greens.

As the economic crisis continues, many forces are beginning to question whether capitalism can survive in its current form. In this piece, Finnish Green activist Anne Bland asks whether there is a means of changing how capitalism works, in order to make it more inclusive and supportive of green thinking.

Austerity in Britain has a face. That face is female. That face is a mother of a dependent child. A mother with a job – although a job she may well lose in the next couple of years through no fault of her own. A very poor paying, part-time job, renting at high cost in the private sector, in a home that’s poorly insulated and expensive to heat.

With one of the highest growth rates in the European Union, the Polish economy seems to escape the crisis. But there is another side of the coin. The Polish are working more and more but earning less. This is the result of a practical obligation to systematically work overtime during weekends and the impossibility of taking annual leave. But what is the social impact of this inequality?

This article aims to analyse the consequences of the structural reforms and expenditure cuts in Spain. It starts from a theoretical debate of why are these measures taken, continues with the details on the reforms and discussing whether Spain is going to achieve the EU deficit objectives, and finishes proposing a change in the approach at Spanish and EU level.

Ireland will vote on the European Union’s ‘Stability Treaty’ on May 31st, the only EU Member State to have a public vote on the treaty. The campaign will reignite a debate in Ireland about its relationship with the EU. For most of its time as a member of the EU, Ireland has perceived ‘Brussels’ as a positive player in Irish economic and social development. However, the economic implosion has raised awkward questions, and led to a re-evaluation of this relationship.

Austerity is being promoted across Europe as a means of restoring competitiveness and growth. However, its implementation has disproportionately impacted the education sector, and is being used as a cloak to implement an ideological drive to privatise education systems. What are the long-term implications of such a strategy?

Inequalities lie at both ends of the equation of the crisis. Inequality is unsustainable in many ways: it puts in danger the cohesion of our societies and it is a driving force of our unsustainable consumption model. An interview with Jean Lambert MEP and Romual Jagodzinski from the ETUI.