Opinion
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Britain's EU membership: Cameron’s fate hangs in the balance
13 May 201326530 The Sunday Telegraph London -
Textile industry: Bangladeshi blood on EU shoppers’ hands?
3 May 2013144794 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
The Netherlands: Ditch the King. Hire an Actor.
30 April 201326440 The New York Times New York -
European Union: Prisoners of the Eurobabel
29 April 2013541231 The Guardian London -
Spain: Six million reasons for another policy
26 April 2013611226 El Periódico de Catalunya Barcelona -
Eurozone crisis: Austerity absurdity?
24 April 2013978131 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Austerity: So what’s the plan, Mr Rehn?
22 April 2013241137 El País Madrid -
Debate: The heart of Europe
18 April 2013426155 El País Madrid -
Society: The day the middle class will rise up
10 April 2013325624 Wprost Warsaw -
United Kingdom: Iron Lady’s enduring legacy
9 April 20131829 The Independent London -
Immigration: UK’s head in the sand
5 April 201311157 The Daily Telegraph London -
Democracy: For a European Republic
5 April 20131259299 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Debate: The “Latin Empire” should strike back
26 March 20133100491 Libération Paris -
Cyprus: The other guy’s always to blame
21 March 2013301128 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
European institutions: Grand ideas and empty jargon
15 March 201318525 Revue Politika Brno -
Debate: Europe has lost its citizens
11 March 201380698 El País Madrid -
Czech Republic: Farewell to Europe’s troublemaker Václav Klaus
7 March 20139317 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Spain: Is the Grillo bug catching?
5 March 201317319 El País Madrid -
United Kingdom: A-A-Another one bites the dust
25 February 20135216 The Times London -
Cyprus: Now is the time for action
25 February 201322 O Phileleftheros Nicosia -
War in Mali: Europe’s invisible hand
18 January 201318523 La Tribune Paris -
United Kingdom: Europe baffled by British reluctance
17 January 2013190180 I Kathimerini Athens -
War in Mali: The Europeans aren’t fit for purpose
16 January 201349065 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Economy: Saint Precarious – new icon of Europe
15 January 201385817 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
United Kingdom: Lost illusions on Europe
14 January 201310724 Financial Times London -
United Kingdom: Will the pro-Europeans please stand up?
14 January 201310468 The Guardian London -
Czech Republic-Slovakia: The happy Czechoslovakia that could have been
7 January 2013154165 Respekt Prague -
Democracy: Wooing Europe’s masses
4 January 201353698 Project Syndicate Prague -
Denmark: Let’s truly commit to Europe
4 January 201310772 Berlingske Tidende Copenhagen -
New Year's Quiz: 40 trick questions about Europe
31 December 201284955 Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung Frankfurt -
European Union: Is Europe standing on its head?
18 December 201238028 Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Poland: Kids are so last century
17 December 201235954 Polityka Warsaw -
Eurozone crisis: Germany’s pact with the devil
14 December 2012606160 The Irish Times Dublin -
European Union: Banking union pipe dream
12 December 201212115 Polityka Warsaw -
European Union: Vanished frontiers earn EU its Nobel Prize
10 December 201242031 El País Madrid -
Nobel Peace Prize: Championing EU complacency
10 December 201213116 Slate Afrique Paris -
Regions: Separatism is dragging Europe back to the Middle Ages
3 December 2012116078 24 Chasa Sofia -
Youth: Let’s create an employment Erasmus scheme!
29 November 201286865 Les Echos Paris -
EU budget: Scrap the CAP
27 November 201237338 The Guardian London -
EU budget: Britain’s bluster serves the eurozone well
26 November 201210016 Financial Times London -
EU budget: Maximum spending, minimum gain
22 November 20126681 Der Standard Vienna -
Catalonian election: A dangerous leap into the abyss
21 November 20127841 El País Madrid -
Debt crisis: France’s elites are in denial
20 November 201234983 Die Welt Berlin -
Gender equality: Brussels moralises at its own peril
15 November 2012556 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Germany: Goodbye euro, hello recession
14 November 201258798 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Greece: Why I published the Lagarde List
31 October 2012156190 The Guardian London -
Debate: Federal Europe best cure for current gloom
29 October 201230544 Corriere della Sera Milan -
Debate: Erasmus generation, you’re Europe’s last hope
24 October 2012221272 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
United Kingdom: Tories are playing with the Brussels bomb
22 October 201210950 The Daily Telegraph London -
Greece-Germany: Those mad, bad and sad Anti-Merkelites
10 October 2012261120 Coulisses de Bruxelles Brussels
Prime Minister David Cameron thought his pledge to hold a referendum on British EU membership would calm his party’s divisions. He’s now facing a rebellion backing a withdrawal from Europe and has lost the trust of the public, writes a British journalist. 
The death of more than 400 people in a Bangladeshi clothing factory once again highlights the appalling conditions in factories where western manufacturers produce clothes. The EU is right to pressure local authorities, but should also probe other countries. 
On April 30, the Dutch Queen Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son Willem-Alexander. Since the monarchy has no political power and costs a lot of money, author Arnon Grunberg proposes replacing the royal family by professional actors, who will do the job for less tax payers’ money. 
Translation within the EU is a laborious and costly business. So why not save billions and make English the Union’s official language? Unfortunately, the price would be a loss of democracy and integration, not to mention a lot of angry Frenchmen. 
With the number of unemployed over six million, the economic and social disaster has continued to worsen despite the EU-prescribed shock therapy applied by the Government of Mariano Rajoy. Just how bad do things have to get before there is a change in policy? wonders El Periódico. 
“The policy of austerity has reached its limits”, says European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the first time Brussels has questioned its own policy. It’s time we grasped that one path for such varied countries doesn’t work, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung. 
Discipline and budget cuts: The cure prescribed for the Eurozone no longer has unanimous support. Unfortunately, voters can not settle this debate as it is between unelected officials, foremost among them, is the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. 
The crisis has accentuated the selfishness of EU countries, triggering the abandonment of cooperative European integration. A Spanish philosopher argues that cohesion and interdependence must be regained before an irrational north-south divide tears the EU apart. 
When the middle classes revolt, our political leaders will realise that they have been sitting on a powder keg, warns Polish philosopher Marcin Król. In the absence of any prospect of social advancement, they may choose revolution as a last resort to make themselves heard. 
From crushing Britain’s trades unions to defeating the Argentine military in the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher’s 11-year reign triggered seismic changes in the economic and political landscape of the country. Her long-lasting legacy will continue to be debated. 
The anticipated wave of Bulgarian and Romanian immigration in 2014 will not be as high as previously thought, according to a new government report. But that is no reason to ignore the consequences for urbanism and social services, writes the conservative Daily Telegraph. 
Whether political leaders or citizens, the pragmatics have failed to build a prosperous and wholly democratic EU. Now it’s the turn of the dreamers. Today, they are the true realists, write political scientist Ulrike Guérot and writer Robert Menasse. 
Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has revived the idea of a union of Southern European countries, a proposal first launched by another philosopher, Alexandre Kojève, just after World War II. This "Latin Empire" could act as a counter weight to the dominant role played by Germany in the European Union. 
Greedy banks, the EU or Angela Merkel: The search for the culprit in Cyprus is running along the usual fault lines of the euro crisis. But do individuals not share in the responsibility for the mistakes of their society? That would mean the Cypriots would have to give up some of their savings deposits. 
Each year the EU produces thousands of pages of reports, speeches and legislation designed to move the European project forward. They have one thing in common: a pompous language worthy of a regime lost in its own dogma, writes a Czech political scientist in Revue Politika. 
The latest Eurobarometer figures are showing clearly what the election results have been hinting at one by one: hit by the crisis, Europeans have lost their confidence in the EU. After having saved the euro, we must rescue the legitimacy of the EU – and before the 2014 elections. 
The end of the Czech president’s mandate on March 7 marks the departure from the European stage of a controversial figure and high-profile Eurosceptic. But behind his provocations, lay a lack of political vision. 
Economic crisis, youth exclusion, discredited political parties: The situation which triggered the success of the Italian Five Star Movement could produce the same effect in southern Europe’s other countries, warns a Spanish sociologist. 
On February 22, the UK became the latest European nation to lose its platinum AAA credit worthiness status when rating agency Moody’s downgraded the country to Aa1. It’s an embarrassment to PM David Cameron, but not a shock to the markets, notes The Times, which encourages the government to continue the austerity policy. 
Voted in by a clear majority on February 24, the new Cypriot president, conservative Nikos Anastasiades, faces the main task of restoring the island’s economic fortunes. And he has no time to lose, warns O Phileleftheros. 
A week after launching operations against the Islamists who are in control of the north of Mali, the French are still the only Western forces with boots on the ground. But the bloc, which has renounced a joint military capability, is there on other fronts - just more discreetly. 
On the eve of the British PM’s much-anticipated speech on Britain’s EU membership, the Brussels correspondent of Greek daily I Kathimerini says that, no matter what David Cameron may say in Amsterdam, Britain has already cut itself loose. 
France's war in Mali is a fight for all of Europe that France is fighting alone, writes the Brussels correspondent of the SZ. Brushing Paris off with a few aircraft isn't just shirking on the part of its European Union partners, it's a fatal blow to a common European defence. 
Austerity and free market regulations have created a band of loyal followers: The Precarious. And they are threatening the jewel European civilization, social security, argues Belgian writer Geert Van Istandael. 
In his forthcoming speech on Europe, due on January 18, UK Prime Minister David Cameron must take account of the Conservative Party’s eurosceptic mood, but above all speak for the country rather than the party and keep Britain in Europe, argues a Financial Times editorial. 
The UK runs the risk of being stampeded out of the EU by Europhobic politicians and media magnates. Pro-Europeans must shed their fears and launch an objective debate on the case for Britain’s EU membership, writes an editorial in The Guardian. 
Twenty years ago, Czechoslovakia split in two new countries. If the Czech Republic and Slovakia had stayed together and transformed the impoverished former nation into a multi-ethnic country, both societies would be more democratic today, argues a dual-nationality columnist. 
Ahead of the 2014 European Parliament elections, the EU could learn much from the recent US presidential vote regarding how to engage with its citizens, gain legitimacy and achieve a louder voice on the international stage. 
As they celebrate the 40th anniversary of entry into the European Union, Danes are weighing up the pros and cons. To persuade fellow Danes that the Union can still benefit Denmark, all the country's political forces should come together and propose daring new ideas, writes Berlingske. 
Three years of the euro crisis, 2013 is around the corner, and you still have some questions? So does essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The outspoken critics of the Brussels bureaucracy has been inspired to draw up a quiz – with, of course, entirely objective questions. Have fun! 
Born to give a political dimension to the common values of Europeans, the Union, with the complicity of the member states, has acquired power and skills that have weakened the people it was supposed to defend, argues the Irish writer Colm Tóibín. 
Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future, writes a Polityka commentator. 
In Goethe's most famous fable, Faust, the German author demonstrates his opinion that paper money is a continuation of alchemy by other means. This view, argues The Irish Times Berlin correspondent, is clearly evident in Germany’s current stance on the eurozone crisis. 
Banking union has already been delayed by more than 10 years and yet there are few indications this will change at the upcoming EU summit on Thursday. Clearly, national interests of some member states are about to prevail over the common good, laments Polityka’s columnist. 
Awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU has left many perplexed. However, notes political scientist José Ignacio Torreblanca, a reminder of the long “European civil war” that began in the 19th century should be enough to justify it. 
The European idea certainly deserves to be acknowledged. However, an Algerian-Tunisian journalist argues that the Nobel Committee should not have given its prize to today’s EU, which sells arms and creates unemployment. 
Catalans, Scots, Flemish... Western Europe is succumbing in its turn to the sirens of separatism. For Bulgarian essayist Ivaylo Dichev, the new nationalists are entrenching themselves as feudal lords behind the walls of their economic prosperity, under the guise of protecting their identities. 
The financial crisis has left behind 14 million young Europeans with neither employment nor training, yet nobody is mentioning them in the talks over the EU budget. What if a little money was spent on bringing them into the world of work through the Union, wonders a French consultant. 
The Common Agricultural Policy was one of the contentious points of the last week’s EU summit. In the midst of an economic crisis, how can we join the French and defend spending €50 billion on a policy that benefits wealthy landowners and does nothing to protect the environment, rages ecology columnist George Monbiot. 
The EU leaders' failure to find an agreement on the budget is largely symbolic as negotiations concern only a very small part of the Union’s wealth. More important to the EU’s future is the efficiency of the single market and relations between the countries inside and outside the currency bloc. 
The EU spends a third of its budget to try to narrow the gap between rich and poor in Europe. Despite the billions from Brussels, though, the poorer countries have not caught up. Could the 27 please rethink that when they discuss the EU budget? 
Central to the Catalonia’s November 25 regional elections will be the question of secession from Spain, with President Artur Mas aiming for an absolute majority that would legitimise a referendum on this issue. But the vehemence of the campaign is such that events could easily spin out of control, worries author Javier Cercas. 
Accused of sticking its head in the sand over the crisis, France has been downgraded by Moody's and become the biggest problem child in Europe. To the political elite in Paris, though, all that doesn’t matter, writes an author from Berlin in the conservative Welt. 
How a country ensures equality is its own business. Brussels should not interfere. The meddling is hardly helping women, and Brussels is making itself even more unpopular by its moral interventionism, writes a German columnist. 
What would happen if Germany left the euro? Economist Gustav Horn of the Hans-Böckler Foundation, which has close ties to trade unions, speculates on what would happen in the days following a German exit from the euro – and on what Germany's most popular euro-critic, Thilo Sarrazin, might also say. 
In 2010, the so-called “Lagarde List”, which names more 2,000 Greek tax evaders, was handed over to the Greek government. But nothing was done. Kostas Vaxevanis, editor in chief of Hot Doc, was recently arrested for publishing it. For him, it’s a symptom of Greece's corruption. 
For Italian writer Claudio Magris, the only way to dispel the dismay prompted by the European economic and political crisis is to create a strong, decentralised and respected federal state. 
Don’t count on EU leaders to get us out of the crisis. The future will be shaped by the youth they have forgotten, writes Polish philosopher Jarosław Makowski, as Brussels seeks funds to help the student exchange programme survive the budget cuts. 
Euroscepticism has gone mainstream in the British Conservative party, making a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the Union increasingly likely. But do PM David Cameron and his EU-hostile ministers really know where they want to go? asks a Daily Telegraph columnist. 
Angela Merkel’s 9 October visit to Athens gave rise to demonstrations in the course of which the chancellor was caricatured as Hitler. Excesses bordering on stupidity that prevent the Greeks from facing up to their responsibilities, argues a French journalist. - 1 of 4
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