Category: European Public Policy

Photo: Marius Badstuber | Unsplash Guest Author: Stephen Chilimidos Stephen is a policy fellow at the European Nations and Regions Organisation in Vienna. A recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, he focuses on comparative politics and innovation programs. In this article, he addresses the decline of the senate as a meaningful legislative body in Belgium, while advocating for strengthening its powers to improve national unity and governance. Introduction Belgium is one of the most decentralized federal systems in the world. This structure developed gradually over the past […]

Photo: Ronan Furuta | Unsplash Guest Author: Maria Grigolia Maria Grigolia is studying Political Science and Law at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich. Her interests include comparative political science, and public international law, with a focus on climate change. In this article, she explores examples of non-traditional political engagement, such as digital activism in Hong Kong and the Fridays for Future protest movement in Western European democracies, to examine their impact on the evolving political landscape of political participation in democracies.   Active participation in politics is a cornerstone of […]

Photo: Anastasiia Chepinska | Unsplash Author: Alina Mehrens   It’s the end of the pride month. So, as we watch the rainbows being taken down from corporate logos, sidewalks and the flagpoles in front of public offices, it’s worth discussing how much of a safe haven Europe actually is for LGBTQ+ refugees seeking asylum from persecution in their country of origin. Going from big to small, I want to first take a look at the changing judicature at the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights relating […]

Photo: François Genon | Unsplash   “Because other issues are more important than ethics, ethics is more important than any issue” [1]. Similarly, I would argue that the rule of law (RoL) may not be everything but without the rule of law, everything is nothing. The rule of law is inherently linked to democratic governance and democracy without the rule of law can hardly be considered democracy at all. Alongside human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and human rights, the rule of law is one of the fundamental values uniting the […]

Photo: Salah Darwish | Unsplash   Starting into the Council Presidency, Germany declared that migration policy in the European Union would be one of the focal points during the six months to come. Now, more than four months in, the issue many thought would be off the table due to different priorities during the corona pandemic has attracted more public scrutiny than anyone had imagined back in July 2020. The coronavirus especially affecting refugees who are most vulnerable, the burning down of Moria, the new proposal by the European Commission […]