News
RLS Brussels brings together transport and urban activists from all over EuropeThe Office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Brussels invited almost 80 activists from nearly 20 European countries to a conference titled «Urban Movement! Connecting Resistance and Alternatives». The conference ran from 18 to 20 October 2019 and gave the participants an opportunity to discuss the transport revolution from a grassroots perspective, exchange views and ideas and learn from one another. The various groups and initiatives came to Brussels equipped ...
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read more "Urban Movement! Connecting Resistance and Alternatives"
Neither bloc, left or right secures a majority. The far-right Vox party, which had no MPs just six months ago, emerges as a third political force. The spectre of a third election appears to be a possible political scenario, although the possibility of an investiture agreement and European-style grand coalition seems to be the option preferred by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has already made it clear that he will not govern with Unidas Podemos. The election campaign was marked by the Catalonia issue, the court judgement...
read more "Social Democrats win elections amidst parliamentary fragmentation"
read more "Social Democrats win elections amidst parliamentary fragmentation"
The WTO launched its World Trade Report 2019 on the future of the service industry at its annual Public Forum, but fierce debates during the event prove that the WTO is almost completely “out of service” due to ongoing trade wars as well as US attacks on Special & Differential Treatment. While the hype around e-commerce was the major theme of the World Trade Report and the lynchpin of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s hopes for future growth in world trade in 2018, this year’s report focuses on trade in services as the prospective source...
read more "The WTO: Out of Service, but Obsessed with Services"
read more "The WTO: Out of Service, but Obsessed with Services"
Socialists hold onto the win as left-wing allies refuse a coalition governmentOn Sunday, the 6 of October, Partido Socialista (PS) couldn’t reach the majority of the polls predicted in the early weeks of the campaign for the 2019 Portuguese legislative elections. For the past four years the Socialists have governed with parliamentary support from Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Partido Comunista Português (PCP) and Partido Ecologista “Os Verdes” (PEV). With a noticeable rise to 36,7% of the vote, from the 32,31% it garnered in 2015, PS still has to navigate a complex maze of ...
read more "Portuguese elections"
read more "Portuguese elections"
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) down 10% – Greens back in National Council with 14%Fresh elections were held in Austria on Sunday, 29 September. They were called after the Ibiza video had blown apart the governing coalition between the right-wing conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) and a motion of no confidence by the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) had prevented the ÖVP from governing alone. The ÖVP, led by the youngest-ever chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, emerged as the clear victor, with 37% of the vote , ...
read more "Parliamentary elections in Austria"
read more "Parliamentary elections in Austria"
leads to the fourth elections since 2015 against a backdrop weary of political wrangling The breakdown of the negotiations in Spain leads to the fourth elections since 2015 against a backdrop weary of political wrangling. PSOE and Unidas Podemos have unsuccessfully negotiated the formation of a stable progressive government and now fight in the wake of fierce backlash. Pablo Iglesias gambles on his future after having rejected an offer, involving a vice-presidency and three ministries, that PSOE assures will not occur again. The emergence of a ...
read more "The breakdown of the negotiations in Spain"
read more "The breakdown of the negotiations in Spain"
The newsletter is published every two months and capture the latest, most exciting developments in working-time reduction from across Europe. It is produced by the New Economics Foundation (UK), and is coordinated by ATTAC (Germany – Group ArbeitFAIRTeilen) and Réseau Roosevelt (France). It is supported by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. You find the shorter working week newsletter 3 here. If you want to receive the newsletter automatically please sign up here.
Report on the panel debate at the Rosa-Luxemburg-StiftungIf you could rearrange the permanent exhibition of the House of European history, what would you do? Display the magnitude of European colonialism and imperialism far beyond the first half of the 19th century. Put greater emphasis on the significant contributions by citizens’ movements to the development of the European Union. Rather relate to anti-fascist struggles across Europe instead of comparing Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union under the ...
read more "What’s Left of the past? Revisiting ideas for an emancipatory and united Europe"
read more "What’s Left of the past? Revisiting ideas for an emancipatory and united Europe"
It is August 21, 2019, and at 15.09 in the afternoon the news of the day in Italy are the undocumented migrants who jump into the water near the island of Lampedusa out of the Open Arms ship that rescued them. The Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs and deputy Prime Minister, as well as head of the governmental party of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, forbid the entry of the NGO boat into the harbor of Lampedusa. This was possible thanks to the law voted by the yellow-green alliance (5 Stars Movement and Northern ...
read more "The “Ursula” affair splits Italian populism (and the left)"
read more "The “Ursula” affair splits Italian populism (and the left)"
The story of the European Union (EU) is often told as a tale of peace and economic prosperity. However, it can also be framed in terms of rapid growth in the transport sector, which is firmly in the grip of ‘fossil capitalism’. The invention at the heart of this mobility model, which is causing widespread environmental destruction, is the internal combustion engine (Candeias et al. 2011; Balsmeyer/Knierim 2018; Haas 2018). A glance at greenhouse gas balances makes this clear, as the transport sector was responsible for roughly 25% of EU-wide emissions in 2015. Although...
read more "The European Car Lobby"
read more "The European Car Lobby"