Thursday
21st Jan 2021
Can the EU do more to hold back the kinds of malign forces that overran the US Capitol? It's not an idle question. Democratic shortcomings in the EU are regularly invoked by the far-right to whip up nationalist sentiment.
Politicians mostly talk about shutting migrants out. That endangers migrants' lives and obscures an important truth: that Europe already relies on large numbers of migrants for farming and manufacturing.
Brussels is increasingly expected to serve as the European Union's sheriff on rule of law - but its ability to enforce adherence to democratic norms and values remains weak.
"Strategic autonomy" has become the mantra for European Union officials. But now with Joe Biden as US president-elect, and prospects for a renewal of trans-Atlantic ties, the urgency and relevance of the concept are again up for debate.
Intersectionality is the concept that overlapping identities - disability, gender, race and sexual-orientation for example - create forms of discrimination that can go unaddressed. But many EU leaders are wary of the kind of identity politics that intersectionality implies.
Bigots and far-right extremists are using online violence to try to silence feminists and LGBT people. It's a cowardly tactic since perpetrators don't even have to meet their targets. We hear stories from two Europeans on the receiving end
Commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, would like to win the approval of all EU member states for a new proposal for a common asylum and migration policy - something her predecessors failed to do.
With no non-white commissioners, just how well-equipped is the EU Commission to tackle race?
To succeed Timmermans needs to stand up to governments and vested interests rushing to reboot economies crashed by the coronavirus. That means ensuring the trillions of euros the EU and its member states spend transform rather than entrench polluting industries.
The coronavirus outbreak has been a pretext for government censorship and a crackdown on journalists, who have been exposed to new criminal charges as well as violent attacks.
When journalists were barred from the EU commission press room in March because of coronavirus, the relatively-new chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, amiable Frenchman, had to improvise.
Commissioner for values and transparency, Věra Jourová, says Brussels will vet moves in Hungary to give prime minister Viktor Orbán scope to rule by decree and urges Facebook and Google to push official health advice to WhatsApp and YouTube.
Concern is growing that emergency powers deployed to control the coronavirus pandemic will be used to erode democracy and civil rights.
Beware the modernisers and saviours - autocrats often play the 'saving democracy' card as they undermine it.
How are campaigners winning progressive victories in the age of bigots and bullies?
For many people, Emmanuel Macron still represents the great hope for an open and liberal Europe. So what to make of the French president's growing preoccupation with Islam, terror and security?
Far-right trolls commonly target women and minorities and seek to subvert the work of politicians, journalists and activists. But technology platforms and their supporters tend to resist legislation that could help tame the trolls.
Ahdaf Soueif, who recently resigned from the British Museum, talks about the persistence of racist thinking, EU-funded authoritarianism in Egypt, and the Cold War roots of terror.
Marta Keil knows firsthand the pressure on culture from Poland's ruling Law and Justice party. Her overview begins at the Polski theatre in the city of Wrocław, and describes an epic clash as the Polish museum sector is steadily hollowed-out.
Gordon Sondland, Donald Trump's ambassador to the EU, is due to appear before the House impeachment inquiry in Washington on Thursday. His predecessor as ambassador, Anthony Gardner, talks about the role, and his successor, on our EU Scream podcast.
Should lobbyists engage with far-right and extremist lawmakers?
Pastors and plutocrats are sponsoring an ultra-conservative agenda in Europe. Many of them have links to Donald Trump.
Women in Romania have had a legal right to an abortion since 1990. But many seeking care find themselves in a Kafkaesque trap.
Pressures on women to avoid terminating unwanted pregnancies have been growing in countries including Croatia, Poland and Romania.
