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Though many of the Commission’s reform proposals have been watered down, the Greens scored some notable successes in ensuring a ‘greening’ of the CAP. What are these, and what do they mean for European farming?

Once you make a commons together, you can have different political visions, but what you share is this desire to construct and protect the commons. Interview with Michel Bauwens, theorist and activist, co-founder of the Peer-to-Peer Foundation.

The turmoil the Italian political landscape has been traversing of late is particularly worrisome. Not so much for the political instability but more for the political blindness that it reveals and which risks destroying the fundamentals of the very idea of democracy itself. While the current government continues the politics of austerity imposed by the European Union, the reform of the political architecture is still missing.

Greece ranks 15th globally in the number of tourist visitors each year, making the industry a major part of its economy. However for all the benefits the industry brings, poor management and planning threatens the beautiful landscape on which it is based. Recently passed laws look set to make this situation even worse, but WWF is proposing alternatives that can protect Greece’s tourist industry and its environment.

Citizens are demanding more direct democracy, something that the political parties are resisting. However the economic crisis has changed everything and made the status quo no longer sustainable. In its wake, a number of new movements are challenging how political decisions are being made.

The German coalition agreement contains many empty phrases and few concrete suggestions. There is absolutely no sign of a European idea, let alone vision.

It is no secret that the lobbying might of financial institutions has shaped regulatory rules at national, European and global level. But did the disaster of the 2007 financial crisis change this? The honest answer is that the old institutions are still up to their old tricks, and a change in how we make policy is needed if we are to avoid a repeat of the crisis.

An interview with Philippe Lamberts, Green MEP and member of the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs, who along with his colleague Sven Giegold, is one of the main actors in the struggle against mainstream financial orthodoxy.

While progress towards a more resilient financial system has undoubtedly been achieved at EU level, it remains nonetheless much too incomplete. The challenge is all the more significant as our system, more than ever, remains dominated by banks that are too big or too interconnected to fail and therefore too dangerous to exist.

The analysis and publication by journalists of previously confidential data from known tax havens – widely known as “Offshore Leaks” – has excited media interest around the world.