Read all posts for ‘European Union’

Sasha and I were colleagues in university. He was a mediocre student. After graduation I didn’t manage to find any work paying more than 30 euro a month. So I started my “career” as a clerk in a music shop. One day Sasha dropped by and said he was going […]

While developing countries move towards the welfare state, European countries need to redesign their welfare model. European states have become so big they are now unwieldy. Basic safety nets have been stretched to unexpected sizes and because the state supports everything that “people deserve”, it’s getting harder and harder to […]

This article is written by Dragos C. Costache and Maria Zirra When Romania acceded to the EU in 2007, there was a wave of public euphoria. The country was already riding a major economic boom and there was an overwhelming sense of national pride that united the fragmented Romanian public […]

Over the past few years, Hungarians have spent far more than they could afford. Now the government is trying to save them from the consequences of the financial crisis and their own irresponsibility. But is it really a good idea to be such a nanny? Before the financial crisis, bank […]

As Europe struggles on with the effects of the economic crisis, the debate on the upcoming EU budget is raising renewed concerns about solidarity. With calls for cuts to the Union’s budget becoming ever louder, we need to think about what effects fewer subsidies for poorer member states would have […]