Working not get tired
Germany February 27, 2012 - by Mattia Rosini
This is not science fiction, nor a provocation. It is just the result of the calculations made by the experts of the Max-Planck-Institut, the Institute for Demographic Research of Rostock. According to such surveys, based on demographic trends, Germany is the oldest EU country: 21% of the population, indeed, are [...]
They move abroad looking for a better future and find themselves poorer than before, with no euro in their pockets. That is the portrait of the modern euro refugees, most of whom come from Spain. Threatened by the high unemployment rate registered in their country, attracted to the bright welfare [...]
Bye, bye Greece
E.U. February 17, 2012 - by Raffaele Padovano
The difficult financial moment Greece is currently experiencing stems from a political class that tried to achieve success as soon as possible. Under the umbrella of the EU common currency and by neglecting the stability and growth pact that EU countries had virtuously imposed upon themselves, Greece kept on increasing [...]
Spain, dispute on same-sex marriages
Spain February 14, 2012 - by Tiziana Trotta
"Equal marriage for all!", this is not a new slogan, but in these days it has mobilised thousands of Spanish citizens. With a Government headed by the People's Party, seven years after its entry into force, the law allowing marriage for same-sex couples is now in danger. This is why [...]
The truth that comes in from the cold
E.U. February 09, 2012 - by Maria Luisa La Marca
In these days, more than 150 million citizens are unable to face the extraordinary spell of cold weather sweeping Europe. In Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and the UK two people out of three live in houses with no heating systems. Bad weather is affecting in particular Mediterranean countries - Italy [...]
Free circulation, but not for free
E.U. February 06, 2012 - by Daniel Reus
Up to now, the free circulation of people in Europe has been greatly appreciated, especially by youths who had the chance to freely choose where to study. Some countries argue, however, that the high presence of foreign students on their territory affects public expenditure. Based on the relevant European directive, [...]
Other parent’s children
Spain February 02, 2012 - by Tiziana Trotta
Mabel Escuer is not Mabel Escuer. She is 59 years old and two years ago she found out she was adopted. She brought her case before the court on July 29, 2011 and, only two weeks later, the Judge decided to dismiss it. The name “Escuer” is part of a [...]
Money is not everything
Germany January 30, 2012 - by Mattia Rosini
More money for recruits. Angela Merkel's government wants to give a new charm to the voluntary military service entered into force on July 1, 2011 - when Germany definitely abolished compulsory military service. In order to achieve such a goal, the government plans to add to soldiers' salaries the "Kindersgeld", [...]
Pedophilia, the luxembourg government turnabout
E.U. January 26, 2012 - by Marina Moretti
Fortunately, the hope accompanying the article published on January 17 on this newspaper turned into reality. The Luxembourgian government, indeed, has officially explained the changes made to the article of the Penal Code concerning indecent behaviour towards children. After the bitter controversies generated by the declaration of the President of [...]
Research: few ideas but very confused
January 23, 2012 - by Tiziana Trotta
Spaniards defend science. More than 50'000 Spanish citizens have already signed a plea to the Ministry of Economy and asked their government to donate 0.7% of their personal income tax to science when paying contributions.
This petition is the result of the cut to research funding (€ 600 million) recently introduced [...]
The house of discord
E.U. December 16, 2011 - by Marina Moretti
Laity is a very complex issue in every European country and the relaunch of the debate on the relations between State and Church reveals old and unsolved controversies. While in Italy in these days the Vatican’s exemption from the ICI (or IMU) property tax has generated a lot of discussion, [...]
The reign of smoking
E.U. December 05, 2011 - by Marina Moretti
The first European congress of French speaking countries held on November 20 leaded to a sharp controversy between France and Luxembourg. The two-day Congress was held in Nancy (France) and gathered a number of experts coming from France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg. During the meeting, a bitter debate ensued between [...]
Radical chic afterwork
E.U. November 21, 2011 - by Laura Casuscelli
In Poland has blown up the milk bar mania. A phenomenon that confirms how it is possible to transform the communist inheritance’ relics in real cult places. These are little state-owned restaurants, born in 1960 to offer low-coast meals to workers, whose name comes from the fact that meals served [...]
Pirates of the mainland
E.U. November 14, 2011 - by Marina Moretti
The national Congress of Luxembourgian Pirates was held two weeks ago in Wasserbilling. On this occasion, the party's future programming guidelines were defined.
Building on the success achieved by their German fellows in Berlin State election, (as documented in this newspaper by the article Modern Pirates, 21 October 2011) the President [...]
The alcohol curtain
E.U. November 07, 2011 - by Laura Casuscelli
Tourists who decide to venture in Eastern Europe better not booze too much. Especially for those who are taking off direction Poland, the Czech Republic or Russia, the real danger is the so-called "sobering-up chamber". To get yourself into this all but pleasant environment is quite easy.
In fact, in [...]
Immigration, hawks and doves
E.U. October 13, 2011 - by Daniëlle De Winter
Spurred by the possible expulsion of the 18-year-old Angolan asylum seeker Mauro Manuel, the debate concerning resident permits for immigrants has once again taken central stage in the Netherlands. Based on the current immigration laws, Mauro should be sent back to Angola after 10 years of living in the Netherlands. [...]
Europe’s poor people, starving to death
E.U. October 04, 2011 - by Gabriele Di Bella
There is an initiative that needs our attention. It is the campaign conducted by Italy, together with a number of Third Sector associations, aiming at guaranteeing the survival of the European food aid programme for the most deprived. Since 1987 such a programme, indeed, has supported charitable trusts in twenty [...]
European Voluntary Year, pragmatism is an imperative
E.U. September 27, 2011 - by Gabriele Di Bella
After an agenda full of events and debates, the European Year of Voluntary Activities (2011) achieves its first concrete result: the Communication on EU Policies and Volunteering: Recognising and Promoting Cross-border Voluntary Activities in the EU. In this cold definition, typical of every formal European document, we find an achievable [...]
Schengen, watch out the trojan horse
E.U. August 04, 2011 - by Giuseppe Terranova
North African uprisings of 2011 and the consequent swelling of migration flows has put not only Italy but entire Europe in a difficult position. According to many member states of the EU the reasons of such a situation are due mainly to lacks of the Schengen’s agreements. But is that [...]
The ideological delirium
E.U. July 26, 2011 - by Giuseppe Terranova
As for the tragedy that struck Norway, there is one aspect in particular we should focus on. Maybe because of an excess of cultural snobbery, simple things have been undervalued. Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old accused of the terrible killing spree, is a man suffering from mental disorders with right-wing [...]
The German Mezzogiorno
Germany October 08, 2010 - by Petra Schweidler
In the light of the twentieth anniversary of German unification, successes and failures of the process of convergence between the East and the West have been thoroughly analysed and broadly discussed in Germany recently.
Compared to the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), eastern Germany’s GDP has doubled nominally in the last [...]
The populist wave does not catch on in Germany
Germany September 23, 2010 - by Petra Schweidler
Thanks to the controversial book author, Thilo Sarrazin, a discussion on failed integration policies and fear of foreign infiltration has taken-off in Germany. Despite losing his job as Chairman of the German Federal Bank, Sarrazin’s thesis on the integration willingness of Muslims and on alleged Jewish genes, found a wide [...]
Adoptions in Germany in decline
Germany August 30, 2010 - by Petra Schweidler
The number of adoptions in Germany continues to fall and has reached in 2009 with a total of 3,888 an all-time low, according to new findings by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The findings continue the trend of the previous years: In 2004 alone, the number of adoptions almost [...]
The web between Scylla and Charybdis
Germany July 19, 2010 - by Silvia Zanette
"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. The social norm of privacy is just something that has evolved over time." Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, the most famous social network of the world, stated. An opinion that [...]
Law an culture combined lead to less exclusion
Italy July 22, 2011 - by Laura Zambrini
Even front line laws can be inadequate against architectural barriers, as is borne out by the Italian case. In Italy, indeed, the laws aiming at solving this problem have not yielded the expected results. Especially as far as accessible tourism is concerned. Most of the existing Italian tourism premises are [...]
Nobody gives you foreign talents for free
Italy June 20, 2011 - by Daniela Musto
Over the last ten years, the number of foreign students attending Italian Universities has constantly increased. In 2002 1.5% of University students came from abroad, today this value has doubled. Nevertheless, Italy remains below the EU average (7.6%) and its trend is lower than that of other European countries which [...]
Reports put non-profit organisations to the test
Italy June 13, 2011 - by Gabriele Di Bella
A few people are familiar with reports. And, perhaps, even those who work in social sector are no exception. This consideration is at the basis of the “Report Academy Award”. This award is given by FERPI, the Italian Association for Public Relations, to the non–profit institutions that show their excellence [...]
Interview to Adriano Ruchini, innovative entrepreneur, President and CEO of Minerva (www.minerva.it). He holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from the MIB of Trieste and he is Ambassador of Excellence to EVP for EFQM. From May 2010 he is President of the Commission Energies and Renewable at the Hungarian [...]
Both Italy and Spain have a long wine tradition. In these areas wine is a very common drink because of cultural and anthropological reasons. Wine is, indeed, one of the alcoholic beverages that Italians prefer drinking and it is part of their meals in 84% of cases. Together with this [...]
Immigrants’ children do not fill the cradles
Italy May 26, 2011 - by Guido Bolaffi
Immigration cannot be considered as a solution to the current demographic crisis. This is what emerges from the data published yesterday by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). According to these data, indeed, in 2010, despite an increase of population, related mainly to the presence of immigrants, Italy reported [...]
Italy does not like foreign brains
Italy May 24, 2011 - by Antonietta Pagano
The total of foreign students attending public University courses in Rome during the school year 2009-2010 was 9,037. This value is certainly positive because it shows that the Italian University system is capable of attracting an increasingly higher number of people. However, if we analyse in details from a quality [...]
Accessible social networks
Italy May 20, 2011 - by Laura Zambrini
For a long time, the relation between disability and social networks has been discussed. An example of that is the survey conducted among the visitors of the website “Superabile.it”. Visitors are asked a series of questions such as: In what way do social networks influence a disabled person's life? Are [...]
One donation does not make a patron
Italy May 17, 2011 - by Gabriele Di Bella
Two interesting pieces of work that have recently appeared on the Internet give us the chance to think about the theme of "donation". The former, which analyses the phenomenon from the donors’ point of view, is the Non Profit Report 2011 (cf. in this website The poorest ones are the [...]
Volunteers’ enthusiasm is not enough
Italy May 03, 2011 - by Gabriele Di Bella
Voluntary work will play a crucial role to fill the unbearable gap between the need to protect the rights of the weakest and the cutting of social resources established by the Government. Over the recent few years, the axe of the Ministry of Economy has deleted almost all the main [...]
Dispatches from Spain: How does a Socialist Government cope with 20 Percent Unemployment?
Spain September 21, 2011 - by Steven Hill
Walking around the streets of Madrid or Barcelona, one can’t help but wonder “How will Spain’s government – a socialist government no less — cope with near-Great Depression levels of unemployment?” Spain has been much in the news lately due to its unwanted membership in the notorious [...]
Both Italy and Spain have a long wine tradition. In these areas wine is a very common drink because of cultural and anthropological reasons. Wine is, indeed, one of the alcoholic beverages that Italians prefer drinking and it is part of their meals in 84% of cases. Together with this [...]
Politics of barriers can’t stand anymore
Spain April 06, 2011 - by Laura Zambrini
The Spanish Council of Ministers has recently approved a document about the participation of disabled people in political life through the election processes. The key points of this “regulation” are three: accessibility to election sites and polling stations, free-of-charge sign language interpreting services and, at the same time, a guarantee [...]
“A country in decline, unable to cope with the economic crisis and to look to the future”. This is how Italy is described in the 2010 Social Watch report, the network of civil society organizations that every year carries out a monitoring of the commitments undertaken at international level to [...]
The Roma issue is complex but it is not unsolvable. As the examples of two gypsy communities show, one in Macedonia, the other in Andalusia. It seems like another world compared to the rest of Europe where persecutions, ghettoisations, poverty and discriminations are the norm. Let us start with Macedonia. [...]
Immigration: Tories find that ‘simple’ solutions are not always possible
United Kingdom November 17, 2010 - by Tim Finch
Luckily for Britain, Theresa May has beat a hasty retreat on pre-election promises to cap immigration. One of the biggest problems in immigration policy over many years is that ministers, under pressure from press and public, have resorted to tough talk when smart action was needed. The Conservatives, for perhaps [...]
The female violence
E.U.FranceItalyUnited Kingdom November 12, 2010 - by Roberta Lunghini
Women are not the only victims of stalking and violence. A truth confirmed by the fact that also in Italy the percentage of men victims of harassment and persecution is increasing. It seems difficult for this phenomenon to find a space and it happens that, in the first national plan [...]
Her Majesty’s cutbacks
United Kingdom October 22, 2010 - by Meabh McMahon
Ten million Britons have never used the internet, according to Martha Lane Fox from the government's Digital Inclusion Task Force. If these ten million used the internet to contact the government once a month, the UK government would save 900 million pounds.
This is just an example of the mentality behind [...]
Who wants to lead the Labour party and why?
United Kingdom September 03, 2010 - by Meabh McMahon
Who wants to lead the Labour party and why?
As the UK's centre-left political party go through the process of recruiting a new leader since the resignation of Gordon Brown, it is high time to reflect on the challenges of the Labour party itself andthe origins of it's aspiring leaders.
The thing [...]
Youngster’s wardship is not worth a worship
World July 01, 2011 - by Raffaella D'Antuono
“Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed. Even the most violent video games are not worse than the fairy tales we were used to listen to before the invention of computers and video games”. With these words, Antonin Scalia, one of the Judges of the American Supreme Court, comments [...]
Happy birthday mister Prohibitionism
World June 17, 2011 - by Guido Bolaffi
The Prohibition as a strategy to fight drug addiction turns 40. The famous conference where President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs dates back, indeed, to June 17th, 1971. At that time Nixon announced to the world his decision to attack America's public enemy number one, drug abuse. It was [...]
The founders of three of the world’s largest poker websites have been charged by the FBI with the crimes of fraud, and money-laundering. They have also been accused of circumventing the American law. On 17 April, indeed, the FBI decided to suspend the domains of the following websites: Pokerstars, Fulltilt [...]
The Muslim Brothers’ Welfare State
World March 01, 2011 - by Giovanni Paci
In contrast to what they have continued to repeat over the last days, it is not true at all that the army and media are the nerve centres for the political takeover. It is simply one of the many clichés about revolutions. But, if we went into depth in the [...]
Does overpopulation represent a real threat to our planet? In short, was Thomas Robert Malthus right or wrong? The population trend of most industrialized countries, and of Italy in particular, contradicts the theory of the British scholar. In the Western world, as a matter of fact, fertility rate dropped, in [...]
Longed-for loves, bought loves
World January 24, 2011 - by Guido Bolaffi
Among the thousands revolutions produced by the Internet there is one that everybody continues to pretend not to see. The online upheaval of the border among love dreams, sexual fantasies and prostitution. Indeed, thanks to the Internet, even the world of passions has globalized and we can ask and obtain [...]
Don’t cut Social Security, DOUBLE it
World January 03, 2011 - by Steven Hill
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, a debate over Social Security, is heating up. This debate raises fundamental questions about what kind of society Americans wish to live in. So far, the debate has been between those deficit busters who say Social Security must be trimmed back to reduce [...]
Stop to an American dream
World December 20, 2010 - by Guido Bolaffi
Even in the United States immigration is increasingly emerging as a thorny issue. On Saturday 18 December the US Senate rejected the Dream Act (Development, Relief, Education Alien Minors), although the same legislative proposal had been previously endorsed by the House of Representatives. The Dream Act was designed by the [...]
Talent drain
World December 03, 2010 - by Antonietta Pagano
In the Gulf countries, especially after the huge investments made following the increase in oil, a considerable turnover of talents is occurring. And Jordan is playing a leading role in the “export” of human resources. Indeed, the countries of the Gulf area are some of the most highly-rated destinations of [...]
How the Republicans can fulfil their pledge
World November 04, 2010 - by Paul Ryan
America’s electorate has forcefully repudiated the party in power – again. In 2006 it fired a Republican party that had strayed from its principles. Then in 2008, in the midst of a financial crisis, the Democrats misinterpreted a mandate for change and President Barack Obama sought to remake America [...]
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