On 8 August 1991, thousands of Albanians arrived in Bari aboard an overcrowded cargo ship. 35 years later, as Ceuta tests Europe’s new migration architecture, the words of Bari’s mayor Enrico Dalfino offer an uncomfortable measure of how far Europe’s migration debate has travelled: can Europe still say “they are people”?
The rules of Schengen got a spotlight over the weekend as rightwing leaders clamoured to close the EU’s free movement area to Spain. Here is why this isn’t possible, and why Italy’s one-way suspension is fleeting
Under the current EU budget, social spending through ESF+ amounts to nearly €96bn. According to internal calculations made by European Parliament services, total social spending could fall under the next MFF to between €63bn and €87bn.
The EU seems to be fully caught up in what has been defined as the “deterrence trap”: a full focus on restrictive measures that might offer short-term political relief but that will prove ineffective in the long run, providing extremist movements the tools to erode the political centre.
As Giorgia Meloni turns Italy into a test case of far-right rule, her mix of compromise in Brussels and hardline policies at home is quietly shaping how France’s National Rally sells itself to wary voters.
Voters see Donald Trump’s personal abuse, even if the politicians pretend not to. Ties to the Trump administration are now politically toxic in Europe. Meloni, whose roots are in the Italian far-right, is fending off a challenge from the even more rightwing National Future party, led by a fire-breathing, pro-Kremlin retired general, Roberto Vanacci.
While EU governments have spent years debating the asylum and migration pact itself, far less scrutiny has been given to how it will be implemented on the ground.
If prosecutors can be targeted for good-faith procedural decisions, corrupt actors gain a powerful new weapon: turning the justice system against those investigating them. And that’s what could be about to happen in Italy.
Across Europe, established right-wing parties are finding themselves challenged by actors positioned further to their right. In Italy, the rise of Roberto Vannacci’s movement serves as an examples. The danger is not only the rise of more radical actors, but the gradual redefinition of what is considered politically acceptable.
Von der Leyen may be caving to Meloni, but on green investment, relaxing EU deficit limits is exactly right‘Ursula cannot say ‘no’ to Georgia’, as one commentator said of von der Leyen and Meloni. But investing too little in clean energy will only push up debt levels later.
Why should defence spending benefit from budget flexibility, but not energy crisis spending?
Trouble starts when the centrist parties begin to sound alike. When moderate left and moderate right converge into a governing centre, voters lose real choice within the system. When democracy loses its internal opposition, it begins producing external opposition. This is the consensus trap.
Strip migration out of the equation, and Italy’s population would still be shrinking at pace. Yet politically, the country is moving in the opposite direction. Giorgia Meloni’s government has doubled down on a hard-line approach: extending detention, tightening family reunification, accelerating asylum procedures and pursuing expansive forms of externalisation beyond Italy’s borders.
Next week, Italy’s Court of Cassation will hear the case of journalist Fabio Butera. In 2023, Butera was fined €33,000 — not for his reporting, but for comments others posted under his Facebook post. The outcome of this case will determine whether journalists are legally responsible for audience comments – a decision with major implications for free speech online.
Is Giorgia Meloni’s grip on power slipping? After a stinging referendum defeat over judicial reforms, the Italian PM faces her first major domestic setback. Could this first setback weaken her both in Italy and internationally?
On March 22 and 23, Italians will vote in a referendum intended to curb the power of the country’s prosecutors. But the reform championed by prime minister Giorgia Meloni could produce the opposite effect, giving prosecutors even greater control over Italy’s justice system.
A blocking minority of member states is pushing to weaken the bloc’s carbon pricing mechanism — which requires industries to pay for their pollution.
Under Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new migration law revives largely symbolic deterrence measures like the “naval blockade” and the Albania model that are unlikely to boost returns or reduce arrivals, while pragmatic labour regularisations proceed quietly in the background. However, voters are exposed primarily to the spectacle of deterrence.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni calls Winter Olympics protesters “enemies of Italy,” echoing Trump’s divisive playbook. Is Europe witnessing the rise of ‘Trumpification’ in Italian politics?
