European Economy - Jesuit European Social Centre

You shall not tell lies!

JESC — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 21:16:21 +0000

The spread of fake news has made truth and lies an urgent topic of political and social debate. The Association for the German Language chose the new idiom “postfaktisch” (post-truth) as its Word of the Year for 2016. The publisher of the Oxford Dictionary also chose the English term “post-truth” as its International Word of […]

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Rural depopulation – The harvest is rich but the labourers are few

JESC — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 13:08:13 +0000

Responding to ever-louder calls for a radical overhaul of the Common Agricultural Policy (‘CAP’), MEPs have recently voted in favour of measures to help small farmers. In this article, environmental lawyer Henry Longbottom SJ (JESC) considers a range of voices in a debate about public funding of rural activities. Few would deny the importance of […]

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Brexit – A schism for Europe

JESC — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 13:41:17 +0000

“The curtain is closed while all questions remain open” – this Bertolt Brecht quote aptly sums up the situation after the UK’s referendum on 23 June. By a narrow margin of 51.9% the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. With a turnout of 72% of the electorate, this corresponds to 37% of all […]

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The Netherlands takes over the presidency of the Council of the EU

JESC — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 11:19:49 +0000

The Netherlands has officially taken over, on January the 1st, the rotatory Presidency of the European Union at a crucial and difficult moment: when the 28 EU countries face not only a dramatic refugee crisis and they undergo an intense terrorism threat, but also challenged with the negotiations to assure the permanence of Britain in the […]

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EP amendments establish red lines with regard to the TTIP

JESC — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 12:01:24 +0000

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership aims at integrating the European Union and the United States the largest trade agreement in the world. The formal negotiations for this ambitious Treaty began in June 2013 The aim of this agreement is to eliminate or reduce barriers to trade in goods, services, and investment, in order to […]

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EU treads a tightrope dealing with Juncker plan

JESC — Fri, 08 May 2015 10:37:22 +0000

The European Parliament (EP) discussed last month, April 20th, the European Strategic Investment Fund (EFSI) known as the core of the Plan Juncker, but it rejected it because of the “cuts” supposed on the allocations for research and transport. The Fund is part of a plan aimed to mobilize more than €315 billion both in […]

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Mitigation or how to limit the impacts of climate change

JESC — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:33:06 +0000

In 2013 the European Environment Agency (EEA) announced that Europe had already reduced its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 19% with reference to the 1990 level, but this reduction is largely as a result of the economic crisis. In order to tackle climate change there are two possible strategies: mitigation and adaptation. The first strategy […]

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Disappointing EU Initiative on conflict resources

JESC — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:44:50 +0000

An initiative proposed by the European Commission on responsible sourcing of minerals is not strong enough to prevent European companies’ mineral purchases from financing conflict or human rights abuses, and falls far short of expectations, campaigners said today. Instead of putting forward robust legislation that would require a wide range of EU-based companies to do […]

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Fuel Poverty

JESC — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:33:24 +0000

In its 2007 review of “Housing, Energy and Thermal Comfort,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended a minimum temperature of 21°C in living rooms, and 18°C in all other rooms as a minimum standard of thermal comfort for the protection of human health. Households requiring 10% or more of their income to attain this WHO […]

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The Cyprus Bail-Out: a Comment

JESC — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:37:53 +0000

The Cyprus bail-out process was dramatic: according to some accounts even chaotic, because of the conflicting priorities of the contributing parties – the European Commission and European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European finance ministers of the ‘Eurogroup’. A first plan for a graduated scheme of enforced losses (‘haircuts’) for all bank […]

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