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2016 was a terrible year for climate change. Will 2017 be worse?0
- Analysis, Environment and Energy
- 23/01/2017
At the end of 2015 the world was full of hope. After 23 years of postponing, staling and log-rolling, we finally had a global agreement on climate change. Even countries that had long been skeptical about global warming, like the US and China, were ready to take action. The world community promised to keep global warming well below 2°C. It finally looked like states, citizens and businesses would be taking the right path.
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Dubai, What’s Next?0
- International Relations and Global Affairs, Op-ed
- 18/01/2017
Could Dubai turn into the next Silicon Valley?
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EU citizenship for sale!5
- EU Governance and Politics, Op-ed
- 12/01/2017
One of the fundamental values of the European Union is democracy: is it democratic for some Member States not to grant citizenship to foreigners’ children, born and raised in their own same country, while others sell citizenship in exchange of money and investments?
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To accept or not to accept?0
- International Relations and Global Affairs, Op-ed
- 09/01/2017
2016 has brought us Brexit and Trump, and with them came the loud, mass calls for repeating or at least recounting the votes. So what happened to respecting the will of the people? Don’t get me wrong, I am just as appalled and disappointed by the recent turn in Western politics as you probably are. However, the people have voted and I must respect that. And so do you and so does everyone else. Whether we are happy about the result or not.
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Central bank independence: Time for a change?0
The European Central Bank possibly is the most politically independent central bank of our times. But a new era of populism and the related pressures on central banks in the US and Great Britain should catch the attention of European policymakers concerning the relationship with their central bank.
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Putin’s fan club on the rise in Europe and America0
- International Relations and Global Affairs, Op-ed
- 02/01/2017
In 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and involved itself in the secessionist wars of Donetsk and Luhansk, the consequent international sanctions from the European Union and America signaled an end to Russia’s positive diplomatic relations with the west. Now, almost three years later, these sanctions have failed to act as a deterrent for Putin to yield Russia’s control over the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.
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Europe Grapples with Child Marriage0
- Human Rights and Migration, Op-ed
- 29/12/2016
Amid the substantial increase in child marriage as a negative coping strategy to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, European nations are scrambling to find sustainable response to the influx of child brides. Recent cases involving de-facto or de-jure recognition of child marriage in Member States that ban such unions have not only triggered concern on the lack of protective measures for child brides, but also demonstrated that addressing child marriage is not at all a straightforward endeavor.
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Trump and EU Defence: A blessing in disguise?1
- International Relations and Global Affairs, Op-ed
- 26/12/2016
After the election of Trump, the High Representative Federica Mogherini stressed the following in a CNN interview: “friendship stays, partnership stays, but EU politics is not determined by US politics”. The emerging unpredictability surrounding the United States (USA) opened up the possibility for the European Union (EU) to play a role as super power.
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Extreme Makeover: Science Edition0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 24/12/2016
2016 gave us an American president-elect despite never having served in elected office. It also marked an historic turning point in the European project when a key member voted to leave. These events, in the minds of many, cemented the phenomenon of the ‘post-truth’ paradigm where slapdash opinions have garnered widespread favour atop ‘facts’. The architects of previous sacrosanct-held facts, the sciences, and especially the economics profession, require a makeover.
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