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Gambling in the Hague
(A shortened version of this post appears in this month’s State of the Left Review) Two months ago, the members of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) overwhelmingly voted for Diederik Samsom to be their new leader. Today he is fighting his first gen...
Can Diederik Samsom save Dutch Labour?
(This article, which was published in the March edition of Policy Network’s State of the Left review, is an adapation of an earlier blog post published here.) Last Saturday over 1,000 members of the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, or...
Double Dutch: how the Rutte government nearly lost the europlot
From the start of the current economic crisis the Dutch government has insisted on strict budgetary discipline in troubled eurozone countries – in particular for Greece. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the Netherlands is one...
Double Dutch: how the Rutte government nearly lost the europlot
From the start of the current economic crisis the Dutch government has insisted on strict budgetary discipline in troubled eurozone countries – in particular for Greece. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the Netherlands is one...
Where next for Dutch Labour?
“Yes we Cohen!” That was how the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, or PvdA) greeted the election of the universally popular mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, as its new leader in the spring of 2010. On Monday 20 February, after les...
Where next for Dutch Labour?
“Yes we Cohen!” That was how the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, or PvdA) greeted the election of the universally popular mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, as its new leader in the spring of 2010. On Monday 20 … Continue re...
How Cameron’s kamikaze act could have been prevented
Did David Cameron deliberately manoeuvre the UK into splendid isolation last night, or was it an accident that could have been prevented? The latter, if the following account from someone who followed the proceeding closely is to be believed: “...
How Cameron’s kamikaze act could have been prevented
Did David Cameron deliberately manoeuvre the UK into splendid isolation last night, or was it an accident that could have been prevented? The latter, if the following account from someone who followed the proceeding closely is to be believed: “...
Victory for Europe, disaster for Britain
By Professor Simon Hix At the EU summit in Brussels yesterday Britain lived up to its century old stereotype of “perfidious albion”; which Wikipedia describes as “a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations and diplom...
Victory for Europe, disaster for Britain
By Professor Simon Hix At the EU summit in Brussels yesterday Britain lived up to its century old stereotype of “perfidious albion”; which Wikipedia describes as “a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations and diplom...
To get out of this crisis, we need to rebuild Europe from scratch
(A reworked version of this blogpost was published as an op-ed in Dutch by de Volkskrant on 24 November 2011. A Spanish translation was published by El Pais on 2 December 2011.) In an op-ed published recently in the Financial Times, Jean-Claude Piris...
To get out of this crisis, we need to rebuild Europe from scratch
(A reworked version of this blogpost was published as an op-ed in Dutch by de Volkskrant on 24 November 2011. A Spanish translation was published by El Pais on 2 December 2011.) In an op-ed published recently in the Financial … Continue reading...
Open letter: the eurocrisis needs a solution, now
The euro crisis needs a solution, now. The current measures are too little and too late and are precipitating global financial turmoil. The euro is far from perfect, as this crisis has revealed. But the answer is to fix its faults rather than allowin...
Open letter: the eurocrisis needs a solution, now
The euro crisis needs a solution, now. The current measures are too little and too late and are precipitating global financial turmoil. The euro is far from perfect, as this crisis has revealed. But the answer is to fix its … Continue reading &...
MEPs tell France’s new Europe minister: give us the right to decide where we meet
Over 100 MEPs have signed an open letter to the new French Europe Minister, Jean Leonetti, calling on the French government to let the European Parliament decide where it meets. The letter points out that an absolute majority of MEPs are now on the r...
MEPs tell France’s new Europe minister: give us the right to decide where we meet
Over 100 MEPs have signed an open letter to the new French Europe Minister, Jean Leonetti, calling on the French government to let the European Parliament decide where it meets. The letter points out that an absolute majority of MEPs … Continue...
The day Martin Schulz forgot to vote
Yesterday Martin Schulz, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament (EP), formally announced his candidacy for President of the EP. In turn, Joseph Daul, leader of the rival European People’s P...
The day Martin Schulz forgot to vote
Yesterday Martin Schulz, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament (EP), formally announced his candidacy for President of the EP. In turn, Joseph Daul, leader of the rival European People’s P...
To win again, Europe’s centre-left must break with the past
This week over 200 political leaders and thinkers from across the world will gather in Oslo for the Progressive Governance Conference, the annual jamboree of the global centre-left launched by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder in 1999. S...
To win again, Europe’s centre-left must break with the past
This week over 200 political leaders and thinkers from across the world will gather in Oslo for the Progressive Governance Conference, the annual jamboree of the global centre-left launched by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder in 1999. S...
