Dialogue

What you should know about the upcoming Turkish elections

By Deniz Torcu

On Sunday, 7 June, Turkey will go to the ballot box to elect 550 members of its Grand National Assembly. This will be the 24th general election in the Republic of Turkey and, surely, one of the most important in the country’s history. While it is likely that the current Islamist ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), will be the winner of the elections, the margin with which they win will be the big question.

Cities’ new ‘paradiplomacy’

By Mario Saavedra

At different times in history it has been Athens, Venice and Milan. Today it’s São Paulo, Shanghai, Istanbul and Barcelona: large cities that sign international diplomatic agreements directly with other governments, either local or national, without necessarily going through their capital city. Mayors or governors have thus become the new diplomats.

Turkey at the Crossroads: a turning point for democracy

By Deniz Torcu

For many people, seeing the president of a democratic republic, who is obliged to be “non-partisan” according to his country’s constitution, publicly bashing the main political opposition parties in government while waving a religious text in his hand is something that comes as a shock and is difficult to comprehend. For Turkish citizens, this is a regular day.

After Syriza and Podemos, the Portuguese LIVRE

As a reaction to the austerity imposed on Portugal, a new political movement gave birth to a new political party, the poppy-branded LIVRE. Founded in March 2014 by former Left Bloc MEP Rui Tavares, LIVRE has already participated in the last European Parliament elections (May 2014), albeit unsuccessfully, registering only 2,18% of the votes. Anti-austerity and pro-European, this leftist party is politically and ideologically in line with the Spanish Podemos and the Greek Syriza.

Challenges and opportunities for EU-Mexico trade relations

By Evelyn Luz Acevedo Bravo

In early May, the renowned Brussels think tank CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), in collaboration with the bank BBVA, organised a meeting among high-level representatives from the EU and Mexico aiming to provide an overall review of the EU-Mexico trade relationship. The conference highlighted and discussed new opportunities, in light of progress and advances made by both, to revisit and enhance the EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement so that each party is better served and may prosper to an even greater extent.

European Citizens’ Initiative: the deflating of direct democracy

By Manuel Ruiz Rico

In 2012, the European Union adopted a mechanism for citizens to exercise direct democracy and promote EU directives: the European Citizens’ Initiative. However, three years after its entry into force, the high expectations it created among ordinary citizens have not been met. Just three of the 31 initiatives have come to fruition and, of these, so far only one – on public water management – has succeeded in getting the European Commission to start moving its bureaucratic legal machinery so that its content can materialize into some form of European standard in the future.

Change of Paradigm? or what is at stake in Spain´s local elections

This Sunday Spain goes to the polls. Municipal councils and the governments of most of Spain´s autonomous regions (not Catalonia and the Basque Country, though, which hold their regional elections on different dates) are up for grabs. Beyond the local impact, what everybody is watching for in these elections is the likely redistribution of Spain´s nationwide political preferences, in anticipation of the general election due before the end of 2015. A political earthquake may be in the making with long-lasting consequences for Spain, and for Spain´s input into the European integration process.

When Pop Meets Opera- Building Bridges in the 60th Eurovision Song Contest

Vienna, the grand city of music, is playing host to the 60th edition of Europe’s premier pop singing event; albeit, Vienna is famous for opera, symphonies and classical music. #12Points is how the city has been rebranding itself for the duration of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The face of the ESC 2015 is Thomas Neuwirth, more commonly known by his Drag Queen persona ‘Conchita Wurst.’ From advertising for bank loans to having a sausage named after her, no one in the past few years has achieved as much popularity after winning the ESC as Conchita. The city entered into a week of celebrations on the Sunday leading up to the finals. The State Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper) organised a special matinee programme, with the overarching theme of ‘Building Bridges’…

Eurovision and Human Rights

Forty countries are competing for the Eurovision Song Trophy in Vienna this year, with the Grand Final due to take place on 23 May. Although the contest has strict rules, according to which participants promoting political messages are banned from the competition, it also has a history of songs just on that thin line between activism and pure cheesiness. Most recently, social issues have been a potent underlying message, including respect for equality and human rights, culminating with the victory of the woman with facial hair in 2014, the Austrian Conchita Wurst. This year’s edition combines political and social activism with reference to the UK’s exit from the EU, the Armenian genocide and LGBT rights to equal citizenship in modern European countries.

If only the EU could learn from its mistakes like the IMF…

By Clément Fontan

One month ago, the Bruegel institute, a respected and influential EU think-thank, published an opinion piece by former IMF staff member Ashoka Mody. In his excellent analysis, Mody relies on leaked insider information and IMF self-criticism to condemn the Fund’s role in the Greek bailout process from 2010 to the present. In short, he reminds us that the lack of debt restructuring during the 2010 bailout was primarily aimed at protecting the holders of Greek bonds, e.g. the major French and German banks, despite its unsustainability. Then, he underlines that the structural reforms and the budget cuts worsened the economic and social conditions in Greece to such an extent that a second bailout was needed in 2012.

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