Ideas
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Eurozone crisis: A new war of religion
7 September 2012533 274 Corriere della Sera Milan -
European Union: Not the right moment for “more Europe”
6 September 2012107 34 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Interview (2/2): André Glucksmann: Europe let down by its intellectuals
4 September 2012172 13 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Interview (1/2): André Glucksmann: “Modern Europe is characterised by the notion of crisis”
3 September 2012137 9 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Debate: Europeans — too different to get along
22 August 2012391 90 Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Debate: Let’s make the United Statelets of Europe
8 August 2012371 99 EUobserver.com Brussels -
Debate: Europe is like 19th century Japan
6 August 2012288 37 Svenska Dagbladet Stockholm -
Debate: The euro of our discontent
2 August 2012155 48 Público Lisbon -
Youth: Time for the European Spring
1 August 2012485 19 Polityka Warsaw -
Eurozone crisis: What must be said
26 July 2012224 47 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Debate: The EU, a socialist mummy
18 July 2012188 54 Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
Geopolitics: EU isn’t the only body ruling over us
13 July 2012391 60 The Times London -
Debate: Living the Norwegian way
13 July 2012190 74 The Daily Telegraph London -
Debate: Europeans are from nations first
10 July 2012208 88 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Debate: The EU is an empire, and empires mean war
9 July 20121147 120 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Debate: Manipulating Europe’s DNA
6 July 201296 29 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Debates: Five ways to change Europe
4 July 2012277 122 Internazionale Rome -
Eurozone: The end of the Merkel method
3 July 2012158 38 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Greece: Back to dark ages if we go on like this
19 June 2012459 15 The Daily Telegraph London -
Greece: Dimitris Dimitriadis — “Living in the light of a dead star”
17 June 2012385 50 Le Monde Paris -
Debate: Where to, crisis-stricken Europe?
15 June 201228 5PresseuropHandelsblatt -
Debate: Europhiles and eurosceptics - you’re all the same
12 June 2012178 29 Spiked London -
Debt crisis : Europe’s zombie parties
4 June 2012262 11 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Greek elections: For Europe’s sake, save us from our saviours
1 June 2012963 56 London Review of Books London -
Humour: Even the gods can’t get their heads around this crisis
25 May 2012326 65 The Times London -
Debate: Europe must choose
25 May 201299 29PresseuropThe Economist -
Eurozone crisis: Don’t isolate the Germans
22 May 2012145 237 The Independent London -
Debate: Europe’s new soft right is winning
21 May 2012157 8 Aftonbladet Stockholm -
Eurozone crisis: Let’s be more American!
18 May 201294 25 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Eurozone crisis: Listen to the cry of Athens
17 May 20121040 176 La Repubblica Rome -
Debate: The European grand coalition
16 May 2012159 15 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Debate: A petition of naivety
10 May 201257 12PresseuropAftonbladet -
Eurozone crisis: The people have become a nuisance
24 April 20121378 98 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Eurozone crisis: Schadenfreude, mon amour
13 April 2012303 165 El País Madrid -
Economy: Greece is our vanguard
28 March 2012129 101 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Netherlands: Something’s gone wrong in Tulip Land
26 March 2012259 28 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Debate: The Germans, workaholics no more
21 March 2012353 50 The Guardian London -
Debate: The end of ideology
15 March 2012456 13 Polityka Warsaw -
Fiscal Compact: Thatcher has won battle for Europe
12 March 2012285 25 Aftonbladet Stockholm -
Economy: Is Keynesianism now a thoughtcrime?
7 March 2012557 48 The Irish Times Dublin -
Debate: Should politicians be tried for the crisis?
6 March 2012455 20 El País Madrid -
Fiction: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the eurozone crisis
2 March 2012344 10 Cicero Berlin -
European Council: There are alternatives to the fiscal compact
2 March 2012157 42 The Independent London -
Eurozone crisis: Europe says goodbye to solidarity
24 February 2012323 86 Financial Times London -
Eurozone crisis: How Brussels is destroying Greece
17 February 2012662 102 The Daily Telegraph London -
Debate: Europe will be saved by nations
16 February 2012171 30 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Debate: Lazy Greeks, a neo-liberal cliché
13 February 2012873 28 CriticAtac Bucharest -
Germany: Call us Nazis if it makes you happy
3 February 2012436 304 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Debate: Ingo Schulze - 10 theses about the crisis
27 January 20121627 24 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Debate: EU can no longer play the war card
19 January 2012187 67 De Morgen Brussels
The opposition between ”virtuous” Northern countries and the “prodigal” South is looking increasingly like the historical fracture between Protestantism and Catholicism, notes an Italian columnist and Vatican expert. 
Debt union? Banking union? Political union? The desire for a radical overhaul of Europe is understandable. But in spite of the calls for changes that are needed to resolve the ongoing political and economic crisis, Europeans do not appear to be ready for more integration. 
In the throes of a crisis of confidence, Europe now has to contend with question of its democratic legitimacy. Given this context, French intellectual André Glucksmann argues for greater solidarity within the EU, and a community that takes the initiative in response to external challenges. 
Financial meltdown, destabilised society, and an enfeebled common project: there are many facets to the problems that have affected the EU in recent years. Now that they have returned to work after the summer break, European leaders are faced with a number of important decisions. Der Spiegel asked French intellectual André Glucksmann about their chances of restoring Europe's lost momentum. 
Above and beyond the diverging economic performance of EU countries, cultural differences between the people of Europe constitute the main obstacle to the creation of a homogeneous European society. Given the extent of these divisions, it is not surprising that the European project has run into difficulty. 
In economics, but also in diplomacy or simply in administration, the size of the country matters. For some EU states, which are too small on a global scale, the model no longer works. The solution? Applying the US model to Europe, suggests journalist Philip Ebels. 
A fragmented territory controlled by local potentates with a weak central government that is not taken seriously by the rest of the world: the EU now resembles Japan in 1860s, argues a Swedish journalist. But the construction of a real European political power could prove to be counter-productive. 
Designed to end a half a millennium of conflicts, today European political unity faces an uncertain future. This is because Europeans no longer share the same vision and because the United States will not accept the existence of the euro, says Portuguese writer Eduardo Lourenço. 
One in every five young Europeans is out of a job, and even one in two in some countries. Numbers like these were enough to have the young generation rebel against governments in the Arab world, remarks a Polish columnist. What will happen if our social model deprives young people of all hope? 
In the midst of the eurozone crisis, we're fortunate to have politicians who can tell us how things stand, ironises the Süddeutsche Zeitung, with this list of choice quotes. 
Europe now lives off over-regulation, complacent bureaucracy and state intervention. And it will end up a museum if it doesn’t recover its entrepreneurial spirit, argues Poland’s former EU negotiator. 
Eurosceptics may rail against losing sovereignty to Brussels. But why do they never complain that since 1945, nations have also ceded power to institutions like the UN, Nato, and the IMF? asks Bill Emmott. 
Norway, a a member of the European Economic Area, but not the EU, is the dream country for British eurosceptics. But could it work for countries that want to jump the European ship? 
The EU is an Empire, argues historian Thierry Baudet. There's nothing wrong with that, replies philosopher Roger Scruton, as long as it does not denigrate the nations it rules, because it's here where attachment to a community springs. 
We are often told that the EU has brought peace to Europe. However, this view is not shared by historian Thierry Baudet who provocatively argues that a process in which nation states give up their sovereignty inevitably results in conflict. That is why he recommends dissolving the euro and restoring national borders. 
Whether it means economic solidarity or political unity, “More Europe” seems to be the way out from the current crisis, writes a Polish columnist. But how can we achieve this without widening the gap between what the EU needs and what European societies are willing to accept? 
The political union which is the corollary of monetary union can only be achieved if the EU is equipped with more democratic structures that offer Europe’s citizens a greater say in the future. Internazionale columnist Eric Jozsef examines some of the ways to give more power to the people. 
Let me get on with it – and trust me! In the midst of the European crisis, the German Chancellor’s usual approach has hit its limit. If she wants support for her policies, she first has to talk to all the people of Europe. 
The devastating effects of austerity on the Greek population are a warning that history is not an never-ending ascent to progress and enlightenment. Civilisations can also collapse, warns Boris Johnson. 
The multifaceted crisis that has struck Greece is the result of several centuries of decadence marked by the deterioration of the state and the loss of a sense of morality, argues Dimitris Dimitriadis. The playwright is convinced his country is dead and must accept this fact if it is to recover. 
While Europhiles believe Brussels is the cure for all ills, Eurosceptics maintain it is the fount of all evil. But are they all that different from each other? wonders Spiked editor Brendan O’Neill. 
European political parties are in crisis. And ideological bias aside, they now deal more in special interest groups. These include senior citizens, whose pensions they cheerfully promise to save, when for years they have been eaten away. 
In the June 17 Greek elections, the electorate is likely to reject those political parties too close to the technocrats and financial bodies that preach austerity and that, many fear, are supplanting democracy. This is why the Greek people must be supported, argues philosopher Slavoj Žižek. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
In helping to bail out struggling eurozone economies, Angela Merkel has already gone well beyond what her electorate wants. And the eurobonds France’s new president François Hollande is pushing for might just be a step too far. 
Triumphant a decade ago, today social democrats have been voted out office in most European countries — a change that is due to a lack of new proposals, but also and more importantly to the right’s appropriation of the language and ideas of social democracy. 
The Greek crisis and the lack of assertive action by European leaders has ended up clouding the greatest challenge to the future of the EU. The USA has the knack of finding effective solutions, and it is time to be inspired by the same spirit, argues a Czech columnist. 
Instead of treating Greek officials as outcasts and their constituents like the plague, European leaders, and particularly Germans, would be better off listening. Because, in attempting to prioritise the needs of the economy over those of democracy, they are undermining the Union’s foundations. 
Until now, ideological discussion has been off the menu in a Europe which lacked a genuine culture of debate. Now that we have a French President and a German Chancellor from opposing sides of the political divide, perhaps the EU can revive the interest of its citizens with public exchanges of views on important issues. 
A spectre is stalking the financial markets: what if the army of unemployed and poor no longer rubber-stamp the policies of the powerful? No wonder neither politicians nor business leaders want to risk too much democracy. 
The financial crisis is at Spain’s doorstep, and all the other European countries can do is rejoice that this fate has not befallen them. This sentiment, so well expressed by the German word Schadenfreude, puts Europe itself at risk, warns a Spanish political scientist. 
The near-collapse of Greece is the scenario that awaits other countries if they fail to get their debt under control. The aid to Athens is a sign that the European Union is still alive, but without the discipline of the fiscal pact, it won’t be enough, says a Czech economist. 
Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has yet to distance himself from the anti-immigrant web site recently launched by the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) headed by Geert Wilders. This silence reveals the country's political divisions and a lack of vision on immigration issues, argues philosopher Paul Scheffer. 
Many countries, including Britain, look up to the Germans as a hard-working people. But such qualities belong to the distant past, points out a Guardian columnist. 
The current economic crisis casting doubts over our economic models and historical narratives may be the first not to create a myth of a new utopia around the corner. Although trust in politicians is fading, the good news is that we will get no new Lenins or Hitlers either – merely politicians without any grandeur at all, notes a Polish writer. 
Intended to assure the euro will survive forever, the fiscal pact adopted in early March endorses the “authoritarian capitalism” promoted by the Iron Lady. The budget cuts it advocates, however, are being dictated not by democratically elected governments but by financial markets, writes a Swedish columnist. 
Ireland will be the only country to put the EU fiscal compact to a popular vote. But what is really on the table, denounces columnist Fintan O’Toole, is that neo-liberal ideology is being raised to the status of unbreakable law. 
The trial of Iceland’s former Prime Minister opened on March 5. Geir Haarde is accused of having being unable to cope with the financial crisis that swept over the country in 2008. Should we follow this example in other countries? El País asked several experts and journalists. 
What if the euro crisis were merely a devilish experiment set up by a gigantic computer disguised as Planet Earth? The Berlin cabaret artist Horst Evers runs though the euro crisis – but by the rules of Douglas Adams’ alternative universe. And he finds the human race isn’t quite up to their job. 
The new treaty signed by 25 member states in Brussels on March 2 is supposed to create a new era of fiscal responsibility and economic union, but it is half-baked and reinforces the EU’s undemocratic credentials, argues a British columnist. 
The solidarity that has always been at the heart of the European project is based upon hard-headed self interest. For the union to survive the current crisis, it needs to relearn this simple principle. 
Sunk into a violent depression, Greece is being bled dry by an “incompetent” EU and its “callous” Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, accuses Peter Oborne, in a vehement broadside. 
With their refusal to build a federal Europe around the single currency, politicians have surrendered power to the economy. To win back this power and to share it with citizens, a Polish historian argues that they should construct a federation of nations. 
Poor and thus blameworthy: amid the ongoing Greek crisis, negative judgements on Southern Europeans appear to be gaining ground in Northern Europe. A Romanian columnist argues that such slurs form part of a simplistic and hypocritical analysis that prevents us from understanding what is really happening. 
“Hitler”, “Occupying Power" – it’s always the same. Berlin is asserting its stance on the euro crisis and, in turn, is being abused with comparisons to the Nazis. Die Zeit ponders how Germans should respond. 
It is the madness that has become self-evident: for years, the public sphere has been plundered and democracy ruined. The German writer Ingo Schulze has had enough. Here he sets out ten reasons to take himself seriously again. 
European leaders have used the threat of war to justify policies undertaken to save the euro. But this argument no longer works, argues Dutch philosopher Paul Scheffer. The hearts and minds of Europeans must be won with valid arguments.