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To ‘Europeanize’ Islamic Education1
An increasing Muslim population in Europe, presenting new integration challenges such as a heightened risk of radicalization among Muslim youth, has led to policymakers seeking to mitigate such risks and promote integration by establishing programs in Islamic education and developing a ‘Europeanized’ interpretation of Islam. To truly ‘Europeanize’ Islamic education, however, it is first necessary to ‘Europeanize’ and standardize the underlying core components of these programs: the curricula as well as the training of Imams.
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European solidarity corps: An IKEA guide to social cohesion0
The Commission proposal for a European Solidarity Corps comes at a time when solidarity between and within states is at a low point. By marrying solidarity with paid work experience the initiative breaks a vicious circle of non – solidarity in the age of individualism. There is, after all, nothing like a bit of self-interest to build social cohesion from the ground up. Flexible security is the missing component in rigid social security systems that have long ceased to offer real security to Europe’s youth.
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Waltraud Schelkle: “Eurozone must build risk-sharing mechanisms”0
Joseph Stiglitz can certainly not be counted among the friends of the Euro. His new book, The Euro and Its Threat to the Future of Europe, provides ammunition for Eurosceptics, on whichever side of the political spectrum: a harsh critique of the Single Currency, unrealistic policy proposals on how to save it (e.g. a fiscal federation), the conclusion that an “amicable divorce” would be best. In this interview, Waltraud Schelkle, Associate Professor in Political Economy at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, provides an alternative read of the euro area crisis.
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European Pillar of Social Rights: a blunt weapon in the fight for citizens’ hearts0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 06/09/2016
The EU licks its wounds after the Brexiteers’ narrow victory in June. The Union’s support base, which has crumbled under the EU’s reaction to the economic crisis, needs an answer to prevent further decay. That answer might take the shape of what the EU is still largely lacking: a social rights dimension. But can the EU successfully wield this very sensitive national competence to fight the fear to lose authority? The answer is in the dosage. If social rights are the EU’s weapon of choice to fight its negative image, the Pillar is a blunt knife to the European citizens’ heart.
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Brave New Euro0
The European Union (EU) should further integrate fiscally and politically in spite of the many challenges it faces. Nationalist movements across the continent threaten the existence of the EU. The Euro, once the pinnacle of the European project, has been dealt a couple of blows. We cowardly lay blame on refugees, populists and a coin; they will never disappear. It’s not the fault of the Euro. It’s (the lack of) political will, stupid!
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When wage competition outcompetes the single European market0
- Op-ed, Social and Economic Policy
- 09/08/2016
In an utterly predictable move, Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen fought off the EU’s third-ever yellow card. The objections to her proposed amendment to the Posting of Workers Directive signalled, as usual, more than subsidiarity-related distress. But even with the yellow card spat easily shoved aside, the disagreement spells trouble: if anything, the dispute reveals a lack of vision that puts the very idea of the internal market at risk.
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