Equality

An interview with Ralf Fücks, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Now that Merkel has triumphed in the German elections, one of the opposition’s main aims – the establishment of a national minimum wage – is likely to miss the boat and be left behind. Prospects are bleak for the growing numbers of working poor.

Despite some flaws, the bill on same sex-marriage is a positive step in the right direction.

France’s experience with immigration teaches us that unless we provide real equality, including political and social rights, we will always struggle as a society to cope with our changing demographics. For this to happen, we need to step out of our national context and see this as an issue that needs European level and global attention. This includes looking at environmental and social problems from a global perspective.

Blonde young women stripping off their shirts to protest for… women’s rights.

Humanity is facing an undeniable challenge. Economic growth is necessary to sustain the welfare state, but this growth is more unsustainable than ever before. It’s not at all clear how this paradox – the need for economic growth that is unsustainable – can be resolved.

The European Project lacks any significant ingredient of emotional bonding. In the absence of a “European soul”, the existing rational, bureaucratic structure is doomed to remain a distant presence for the citizens of Europe.

In advance of a Party meeting on the future of European, Green members of the German Bundestag and European Parliament discuss the future of the European project.