The small city of Kouvola lies in forests where once the paper industry thrived. Recently, the region has suffered from closing factories and loss of jobs. Kouvola is one of the most important strongholds for the Finns Party. The following excerpts are taken from a focus group of party supporters.
Austerity and popular resistance are essential to a political diagnosis for contemporary Europe. Political developments in Greece will show whether the future of Europe is one of neoliberal restructuring or one of a democratic socialist alternative. An interview with Costas Douzinas.
In May, for the first time ever, European citizens will have a chance to (indirectly) elect the next president of the European Commission. Apparently unimpressive, this small change might go a long way towards bridging the EU's democratic deficit.
Climate policy should be a major consideration for voters heading for the polls in May’s European parliamentary elections.
An excerpt from the debate on discriminatory internet sites and government reactions (March 13, 2012, Strasbourg), followed by commentary on the political language.
The European elections in Poland will be treated as a test of political parties' national popularity, rather than any belief in Poland's role in Europe. Euro elections landscape, 2014.
There may be only one European election, but how the candidates in each country are elected can be quite different. Euro elections landscape, 2014.
Conservative and nationalist blocks have successfully politicized Euro-elections. The other parties must clearly profile what they want to pursue and what re-arrange within the EU, to stand any chance of providing a home for citizens who have ample reason to grumble. Euro-elections landscape, 2014
Earlier this month the South Korean export agency announced that, following an international campaign supported by Campaign Against Arms Trade, they would cancel a shipment of 1.6 million gas canisters to Bahrain. This sets an important precedent which Europe should be following.
"In my eyes, there is nothing in the Scandinavia model that suggests that we cannot compete. Actually, there is a lot to suggest that we are the most competitive social model on earth". Interview.
Greece is a nation afflicted with polarized political forces. Could the Greek Green Party’s latest MEP nomination foment anti-Israeli sentiments and escalate this polarisation? What does the European Green Party have to say?
Unlike France, Italy or the Netherlands, the crisis of Romania’s elites has not led to a rise in xenophobic politics but to a digital revolution that challenges traditional assumptions about democratic change. Euro elections landscape, 2014.
