Ideas
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Debate: Geert Wilders, a Voltaire for our times?
27 June 201130912 Trouw Amsterdam -
Debt crisis: Amartya Sen: let's wrest democracy back
24 June 20117443 The Guardian London -
Debate: Europeans have a right to the truth
22 June 20112125 La Repubblica Rome -
Debt crisis: Democracy comes home to Greece
16 June 20113554 The Guardian London -
Debate: A united Europe – good for bureaucrats
15 June 20111007 The Daily Telegraph London -
Debate: Let Europe shake
2 June 20111966 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Greek crisis: A crazy way to run civilisation
10 May 2011694 The Guardian London -
Debate: Transatlantic populism
6 May 20111444 De Morgen Brussels -
Debate: Royalty will save democracy
6 May 20111281 Le Temps Geneva -
United Kingdom: The Windsors forever
28 April 2011522 The Daily Telegraph London -
Debate: Unworthy of ourselves
22 April 20113556 De Morgen Brussels -
Libyan war: French intellectuals debate intervention
29 March 2011341PresseuropPresseurop -
A take on Europe : I have a dream
4 February 20117381 The Guardian London -
History: Researcher claims Colombus was Polish
11 January 2011PresseuropNewsweek Polska -
Culture: Europe is written in stone
4 January 20112818 The Guardian London -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 10: A multicultural renaissance
2 January 201150710 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 9: Yearning to remain optimistic
1 January 20111421 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 8: Negotiation rocks
31 December 201075 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 7: When my daughter wears the burqa…
30 December 20101655 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 6: EU’ll grow out of it
29 December 20103042 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 5: Join the Church of the Concrete
28 December 20104934 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 4: The EU is a car
27 December 2010391 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 3: Learn to get older, gracefully
26 December 20101001 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 2: Saddle those horses
25 December 20103682 Presseurop -
THE 10 DAYS OF EUROPE | 1: Pariah therefore European
23 December 20101865 Presseurop -
Debates: You'd rather see China or Russia leading?
20 December 20102041 El País Madrid -
Debt crisis: Ireland - Germany’s paradise lost
7 December 20101641 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Economic crisis: Can Cantona break the banks?
6 December 2010PresseuropLa Tribune -
Debate: Capitalism, but not as you know it
23 November 2010180 Dilema Veche Bucharest -
History: Unearthing the Tycho Brahe mystery
16 November 2010PresseuropPolitiken -
Democracy: Berlusconi and the abuses of power
4 November 2010169 La Repubblica Rome -
Democracy: It takes conflict to build a world
1 November 20101471 Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
Urban planning: The metamorphosis of Prague
25 October 2010137 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Debates: Diversity and solidarity - happy bed-fellows?
27 September 201076 Les Echos Paris -
Debate: How the left lost it
22 September 20101262 Polska The Times Warsaw -
Debate: Whither the European mind?
10 September 2010312 Philosophie Magazine Paris -
Science: God is demoted, again
2 September 2010PresseuropThe Times -
Amsterdam: Who cares about Unesco?
6 August 2010683 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
History: Grunwald, the battle that changed Central Europe
15 July 2010172PresseuropPolska The Times -
Where is the Union headed? (9): Europe keeps moving, nevertheless
12 July 201025 Respekt Prague -
Finance: States vs markets: an unfair fight
8 July 2010281 El País Madrid -
Where is the Union headed? (8): More Europe? No thanks.
5 July 2010351 Público Lisbon -
Crisis: Will Europe pull through?
2 July 2010PresseuropThe American Interest -
Where is the Union headed? (7): Has the crisis led to an east / west face off?
1 July 201076 La Repubblica Rome -
Where is the Union headed? (5): The European project should not falter now
15 June 201084 L'Espresso Rome -
Politics: Where to for the European left?
4 June 2010562 La Repubblica Rome -
Where is the union headed? (3): A single European destiny
26 May 20101174 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Where is the union headed? (2): Why I’m missing the EEC
25 May 2010881 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
ICELAND VOLCANO: A Europe without planes
20 April 2010211 The Independent London -
ICELAND VOLCANO: Air travel - computer says No
19 April 2010743 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt
Geert Wilders's acquittal on hate speech charges may open up a new trend in Europe. Now that governments have stopped defending multiculturalism, critics of Islam can come back out into the open, writes a Dutch intellectual pleased with the decision. 
The Greek crisis illustrates what happens when political authorities abandon responsibility in favour of non-accountable bodies such as rating agencies, writes the Nobel prizewinning economist. 
The financial crisis has exposed the deception and subterfuge of politics, yet the leaders of Europe continue to deny the obvious. Only honesty, and the courage to tell the truth, can save Europe. 
While Greece’s PM George Panpandreou struggles to push through a second round of crippling austerity measures, the capital’s Syntagma Square has become a model of direct democracy, writes a Greek columnist, where Athenians of all ideologies, ages, occupations come to express their outrage. 
In the wake of Tony Blair’s declaration that Europe needs further integration, with a democratically elected president to lead it, a Daily Telegraph columnist argues that the only people who will benefit is Brussels’ army of Eurocrats. 
With our states indebted and international institutions like the IMF rocked to their foundations, no-one knows what the future will bring. But from out of the crisis, a new way thinking should emerge, argues a Czech economist. 
Despite a series of swingeing austerity budgets to calm the international markets, Greece yet again totters on the brink of bankruptcy. But should democracies determine economic policy according to what a few thousand traders might, or might not, want? 
The rise of populist parties on the Old Continent seems to echo the success of the Tea Party in the United States. But the two movements have different histories, writes the Boston correspondent for De Morgen. The result, though, is the same: governments threatened with paralysis. 
In the wake of the British royal wedding, perhaps the most successful PR achieved by a monarchy in two decades, essayist Ian Buruma argues that monarchies keep countries together, put a lid on ethnic conflicts and dampen down populism. 
Irrational, sentimental absurd – and natural. Not only has the British monarchy has survived the 20th century, but it is still the cement of the nation, marvels the very traditionalist Daily Telegraph on the eve of the future King's wedding. 
What is the source of the obnoxious atmosphere sweeping across Europe? At a time when populations are more and more inward looking and political leaders irresponsible, Europe is increasingly a cause for scandal. A Belgian columnist sets the record straight. 
Let's break the deadlock between anaemic liberals and xenophobic extremists to give Europe new meaning and purpose, argues Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. 
The European Union has entered its darkest days, to the Eurosceptics' delight. But our shared history will keep us together, argues a Guardian columnist. 
Say goodbye to conformity, corruption and fawning to elites, and make way for a multicultural melting pot to renew the continent’s sapped energies, writes Italian economist Loretta Napoleoni in a letter to her son. 
Novelist Tim Parks argues for a Europe built on a shared vision, one that gets excited about refashioning the world rather than fighting to keep it as it is. 
The EU's greatest and most beautiful idea? Sitting down at a table for talks that are conducted with tolerance and style, answers Romanian historian Mircea Vasilescu. 
Magazines tell us that women are the future of Europe, but exactly what kind of future do they mean? Czech novelist Petra Hůlová offers her tragicomic vision. 
The EU is behaving like a moody teenager trying to come to terms with a growth spurt, remarks French researcher Philippe Perchoc. Only in the mirror of new dreams inspired by fresh political ambitions and new partner countries will it come of age and assume its role in the world. 
In the eighties and early noughties as stock market prices soared, we were burning cattle in the fields of Europe. But now the cult of abstract value is giving way to a return to faith in the real value of material things, Portuguese writer Gonçalo Tavares explains. 
Europe isn’t exactly a wellspring of artistic inspiration, writes German author Thomas Brussig. It’s really more like a car, which, though a fetish object for some, is for most just a vehicle that takes you where you want to go. 
Europe is at a crossroads, but will find a way if it shares with the rest of the world its attractive political, social and economic model, writes Paweł Świeboda. 
Given the political, social and religious confusion that plagues Europe, Spanish philosopher Fernando Savater pleads for a new spirit of openness to talents, ideas and creeds. 
Dutch writer Arnon Grunberg says he had to move to New York to begin feeling truly European. This may be because his family’s identity was built on exile and rootlessness. This is a story that, today, applies to many others. 
The euro crisis and enduring political divisions between Europeans have undermined the Old Continent’s standing in a globalised world. It’s time to save the European way, urges Venezuelan columnist Moisés Naim: the alternatives – US hegemony, Chinese capitalist communism or Russian autocracy – are far worse. 
Ireland, the poor, pure island, was a place Germans longed for, at least ever since Heinrich Böll. Till the country succumbed to turbo-capitalism, dealing another body blow to the euro and dashing the German dream of a better world, laments Der Spiegel. 
Today the market economy holds sway over the entire continent. But can we be sure that it is really the same everywhere? In Eastern Europe, capitalists who prospered in a feudal post-communist environment have created a very particular system. 
The abuse of power is an irresistible temptation, which is why liberal constitutions establish checks and balances on the exercise of power. But Silvio Berlusconi’s latest transgressions go to show that even a liberal constitutional democracy is not proof against wanton abuse. 
Whether it’s against austerity packages, pension reforms or nuclear waste shipments, protests have overrun the streets of Europe. Has democracy reached the end of the line? No, says futurist Matthias Horx, it’s time for the political establishment to come down off their high horse and accept real participatory democracy. 
Environmental activists devote much of their activity to protecting the countryside, but in future preserving cities from aesthetic pollution will become an even greater priority, argues British philosopher Roger Scruton, citing Prague - the "spiritual centre of Europe" - as the perfect example. 
Tensions between regions in Belgium and Italy, and the expulsion of the Roma from France have highlighted an underlying conflict in societies that wish to be both generous and socially diverse. According to two French economists, it is a tug-of-war that also has the potential to undermine the European Union. 
With its representatives confined to the opposition benches nearly everywhere in Europe, the left is increasingly unable to propose a real alternative in a world where ideology is progressively disappearing. 
The idea of a declining Europe, which has been reinforced by poor demographic and economic indicators, has become a fashionable talking point. But writing in the colums of France’s Philosophie Magazine, Alexandre Lacroix insists that the vitality of a civilisation is also measured in terms of the strength of its creative initiative. 
UNESCO’s recognition of Amsterdam’s 17th-century canal ring area fails to impress NRC Handelsblad, which argues that tourism and modernisation will not benefit from the city’s new status as a World Heritage Site — a title the newspaper believes is largely overblown. 
The Greek crisis, German rigour, the shifting global balance of power: the EU has been sorely tried these past few months. But that won’t keep it from evolving in a slightly different form, assures German journalist/political scientist Josef Joffe. Interview.
Since the crisis broke in 2008, the nation-state has been overwhelmed by new players in a changing world. The EU 27, bereft of political leadership, are the case in point. 
To stave off the risk of overindebted member states going bust, the EU 27 have taken steps – e.g. euro stabilisation plan, outline of economic governance – tending towards tighter integration. But once again they’ve done it without asking the European public’s opinion, bemoans Público. 
The economic crisis has slowed, if not stopped, the rapprochement between Western and Eastern Europe. Now that the excesses of capitalism have put a damper on their liberal democratic élan, ex-Communist countries are seeing a subversion of the values they once fought for, writes Yugoslav intellectual Predrag Matvejević. 
Confronted by economic crisis, European governments and citizens are increasingly succumbing to the temptations of nationalism, selfishness and mistrust of foreigners — a trend deplored by writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, who emphasises the integral role played by immigrants in modern Europe, and modern European identity. 
In power in the countries worst hit by the economic crisis – Spain, Greece and Portugal – left-wing parties have been forced to implement austerity packages that closely resemble those chosen by conservative counterparts in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly, their grassroots supporters are none too pleased. 
Taking their cue from the German chancellor, Europe’s leaders seem to be hiding behind “the will of the people” as an excuse for their inertia. And yet political will is what we need now to confront the crisis and bring the European project back to life, argues philosopher Jürgen Habermas. 
While he appreciates Europe and its diversity, Dutch writer Leon de Winter doesn’t believe there’s enough cultural common ground to justify the EU construct. Ambitious politicians and power-hungry technocrats are exacting a grass-roots solidarity that simply doesn’t exist. De Winter makes the case for a return to the EEC. 
The disruption of air traffic triggered by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcanic ash cloud reveals not just how big Europe is but also its social and economic weaknesses, argues columnist Hamish McRae 
The aviation standstill was not caused by facts, but by a computer simulation. Increasingly powerful computers now take decisions off our hands. Not only in the air, but in everyday life, too. So we need an overseer to control computer decisions, urges the FAZ.