In the aftermath of the German elections, the EU had been keenly observing the coalition talks as to who will lead Germany next. The dust had not even settled before the ruling of the constitutional court of Poland sent shockwaves through Brussels. […]
In 1975, the women of Iceland gathered together to plan a “women’s day off”, meant to highlight the essential contributions women make to Iceland’s economy and social-well-being. The main goals of the strike were not only to protest the pay discrepancies between men and women, but also the low value that has been placed on women’s work both inside and outside the home. […]
On September 15th, President of the European Union Commission Ursula von der Leyen delivered the annual State of the Union Address. Noteworthy key priorities were the continuation of the fight against COVID-19, climate change, migration, respect for rule of law, and a European defence policy. After the speech, many were left with further questions, be it from a public health policy perspective or from a security standpoint. […]
In July 2019, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the Conference on the Future of Europe in the upcoming European Commission agenda. The year-long Conference will enable citizens and institutions of the European Union (EU) to deliberate the future of the EU. Besides the election of the European Parliament (EP), European citizens can engage in EU politics, for instance, through opinion surveys or the European citizens’ initiative. […]
Looking back over the past year, it has become abundantly clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and amplified inequalities that have been present for quite some time. In order to protect those vulnerable to the virus, governments launched campaigns urging people to stay at home in order to decrease the risk of infecting others. […]
The automation of the production and circulation of disinformation has never before been so easy and cheap. We now have automated social bots that can rapidly disseminate a post containing disinformation on average more than fifty times a day. However, their role is not limited solely to that; they are also used to rapidly generate ad revenue by directing traffic. We have only recently started to awaken to the consequences of this technology for our societies and democracies. […]
As of May 6, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 3.7 million confirmed cases and 259,000 deaths worldwide. Europe has become one of the epicenters of the outbreak, with several European Union (EU) Member States being hit particularly hard. A cross-border threat to public health and safety with significant socioeconomic consequences, the pandemic poses a substantial challenge to the EU. […]
The new initiative aims at bringing together EU institutions, Member States and civil society. The details are still unknown but a Franco-German “non-paper” sheds some light on how the Conference on the Future of Europe could look like. […]