Minority governments ‘à la mode’ in Europe but can they last long?

With the Italian elections set for 4 March and anticipated to produce a hang parliament, four out of the five bigger European countries will be in political limbo for a good part, if not for the entire new year 2018. France is the only exception in this Euro-plague of political uncertainty. In some cases the […]

Bullheaded Madrid authorities confront Catalonia with force

Madrid is doing exactly the same mistakes after the Catalan secessionist parties won the 21 December election, as in the weeks leading to the unauthorized independence referendum of 1st October. Both Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and King Felipe VI refused to let the door open for talks with the secessionist leaders and Carles Puigdemont, the […]

Entrepreneurship in a newly shaped Europe: what is the survival kit for a young Catalan and British entrepreneur in 2018?

This article was exclusively written for the Sting by João Malhadeiro, member of LisbonPH, the Junior Enterprise of Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. Mr Malhadeiro is affiliated to the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises (JADE). JADE is a cordial partner of The European Sting. The opinion expressed in this piece belongs to the writer […]

Catalonia secessionist leader takes Flemish ‘cover’; Spain risks more jingoist violence

The Catalonia crisis and the aftermaths after its diffusion can offer valuable lessons for the nature of jingoist politics and the motives, goals and the character of its main actors, on both sides of the fence. The Catalan secessionists led by Carles Puigdemont proved experts in setting the fire, but were incapable of making anything […]

Czech Babis, Austrian Kurz and others threaten Europe with nationalist populism

Andrej Babis, a media magnate and second wealthier Czech leading his anti-immigration, nationalist and populist ANO party, won last Sunday’s election, with around 30% of the vote. He is to become the next Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Babis did that on an anti-systemic Trump-like ticket. He was recently implicated in a tax fraud […]

A jingoistic Spanish ‘war’ from the past

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” Samuel Johnson wrote in the 18th century and unfortunately history keeps justifying this early political essayist. During the last few days, the Catalan separatists and the Iraqi Kurds held referendums to declare national independence, which were not at all needed. Both regions have as much self-governance as […]

EU revengefully shows no mercy to Cameron by demanding a fast and sloppy Brexit now

One of the most historicals EU summits is taking place today in Brussels with 27 instead of 28 member states attending the meeting, leaving Britain and David Cameron out due to the recent decision of the British people to vote in favor of leaving the European Union. The EU referendum has caused severe consequences not only to […]

Scotland “shows the way” to separatist movements as Catalonia calls a vote on independence

The fact that Scotland’s vote for independence was a milestone in the separatist movements’ history within the European Union was already clear. In the last weeks everybody was looking northwards as it was evident that any decision by the Scots would have changed the path and probably the weight of the regionalist parties inside the parliament houses […]

Desires for national independence in Europe bound by economic realities

After the fall of communism in Europe, secession became the name of the game all over the Old Continent. It started with the ‘velvet divorce’ of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, which produced the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Then followed the bloody dismembering of Yugoslavia, where a handful of new nations appeared. Now Scotland and […]