European Union

Belgium has been paralysed since Sunday evening by a nationwide strike against the government's reform plans. The work stoppage is expected to continue until Wednesday evening. The multi-party coalition had agreed on various measures to reduce the budget deficit by 9.2 billion euros, including increasing VAT on certain products and services and imposing cuts on pensions and public spending.

Former Greece prime minister and erstwhile head of the leftist Syriza party, Alexis Tsipras (in office 2015-2019) has written a book titled Ithaka. It deals with his turbulent time in office during Greece's debt crisis in the mid-2010s. For the Greek press the book is Tspipras's attempt to launch a political comeback.

Obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - according to the latest scientific findings, the consumption of UPFs significantly increases the risk of such diseases. In the latest edition of The Lancet, scientists call for action to promote a diet based on minimally processed fresh food. Commentators discuss where the problems lie and how they might be addressed.

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"I cannot see any scenario in which the European taxpayers alone will pay the bill," von der Leyen said

• Polarization as an impact of crises and its connection to radicalization leading to violent extremism through the study of two crises: a) the migration/refugee crisis of 2015-2016 and b) the pandemic.
• An important part of the problem is the political mainstreaming of extremist narratives, that is, the choice of politicians to increasingly exploit far-right and conspiratorial narratives that have been supported by segments of the population in recent years.
• Polarization is an issue that concerns groups of individuals and not lone actors
• the risk of conflict is magnified when society is divided into two equal groups with competing goals”
• Multiple crises are more dangerous, as on the one hand they exert greater pressure on the management mechanisms of states and on the other hand they expand the vulnerability of societies, groups and individuals.
• A broad sense of democratic deficit and two successive processes of questioning have been created that lead to a crisis: a) of trust and b) of representation.
• Prolonged polarization has led to the radicalization of a large number of citizens, without necessarily resulting from the support of a specific ideology
• Disinformation, the spread of fake news and the dissemination of conspiracy theories constitute a threat to democracy and have caused significant problems in electoral processes and fuel polarization.
• The pandemic acted as a catalyst and influenced radicalization, but also the way extremist groups operate.

Read here in pdf the Policy paper by Triantafyllos Karatrantos, ELIAMEP Research Associate (in Greek).