cafebabel.com

Inner-city immigrant-city Athens: look Greek, look lively

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:39:48 -0000

A crisis can exacerbate a ‘them versus us’ feeling, especially with elections on the cards. Half a million undocumented immigrants* makes Greece one of the three European countries (alongside Spain and Italy) to be the first point of welcome for asylum seekers. Far right parties milk the 'foreigners-out' cow, whilst a general mood of mistrust reins

Self-identification, multiculturalism and erasmus in the EU

('Alexandra Belopolsky',) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:24:20 -0000

In a world where the physical borders are a blur, no wonder the mental ones are blurring as well. With nationalists turning to the 'protection of Europe' rather than the 'protection of the homeland', it is fair to say that the erasmus generation is the face of future Europe. United within itself, far past the division to Germans, French, Poles, or Italians, it's an identity in its own right - even for me

EU election campaign is hypocritical, because there's no choice

('samantha',) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:38:20 -0000

On 17 March the European parliament launched its communication campaign in view of the European elections in June 2009. The German agency which produced it has, for the first time in EU history, used elements taken from concrete politics to encourage participation. Despite this the Italian government has found it non-communicative (and has announced that it is making a new one), without mentioning the fact that it recalls the wave of anti-Roma feeling which has swept through Italy lately

'The Wonderous World of Laundry': forgiving free market in Berlin and Warsaw

('Lydia Bigos',) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:37:44 -0000

The global credit crunch has quickly established it self to be a test of European solidarity. The government in Berlin faces a particularly difficult challenge as 2009 brings them the presidential elections and the elections for European parliament. This is also the time to fulfil the promise of opening up the German labour market to the ten new EU states, including Poland. Will pre-election fever deal with the ever-increasing unemployment on both sides of the Odra River – without compromising the strong relationship between Berlin and Warsaw?