The Policy Hub on December 4, 2024, brought together eight experts to discuss EU legislative reform, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and efficiency.
- Prof. Helen Xanthaki criticized the lack of measurable objectives in EU laws and called for clearer drafting to ease implementation.
- Prof. Mauro Zamboni advocated for participatory democracy, urging early citizen involvement and transparent law-making.
- Prof. Constantin Stefanou highlighted the need to improve legislation as a communication tool, making laws more accessible.
- Prof. Maria Mousmouti stressed the importance of measurable legislative goals and review clauses to assess effectiveness.
- Prof. Giulia Pennisi focused on simplifying legal language, reducing complexity, and enhancing communication, especially for younger readers.
- Prof. Henri de Waele proposed stronger scrutiny in the European Parliament to prevent legal challenges and ensure better drafting.
- Prof. Scott Markus addressed regulatory overload, advocating for improved impact assessments and competitiveness evaluations.
- Prof. Giovanni Sartor explored AI’s potential in law-making, emphasizing benefits for drafting and impact analysis but warning about privacy risks.
The roundtable discussion reinforced the need for simplified legal language, transparency, and better communication of legislative benefits. Experts called for impact assessments and technological integration to enhance governance, build trust, and create a more citizen-friendly EU legislative framework.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2025/770445/IUST_IDA(2025)770445_EN.pdf
- Prof. Helen Xanthaki criticized the lack of measurable objectives in EU laws and called for clearer drafting to ease implementation.
- Prof. Mauro Zamboni advocated for participatory democracy, urging early citizen involvement and transparent law-making.
- Prof. Constantin Stefanou highlighted the need to improve legislation as a communication tool, making laws more accessible.
- Prof. Maria Mousmouti stressed the importance of measurable legislative goals and review clauses to assess effectiveness.
- Prof. Giulia Pennisi focused on simplifying legal language, reducing complexity, and enhancing communication, especially for younger readers.
- Prof. Henri de Waele proposed stronger scrutiny in the European Parliament to prevent legal challenges and ensure better drafting.
- Prof. Scott Markus addressed regulatory overload, advocating for improved impact assessments and competitiveness evaluations.
- Prof. Giovanni Sartor explored AI’s potential in law-making, emphasizing benefits for drafting and impact analysis but warning about privacy risks.
The roundtable discussion reinforced the need for simplified legal language, transparency, and better communication of legislative benefits. Experts called for impact assessments and technological integration to enhance governance, build trust, and create a more citizen-friendly EU legislative framework.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2025/770445/IUST_IDA(2025)770445_EN.pdf
In New Mexico, oil industry representatives met with state regulators and environmentalists to address the issue of over 70,000 unplugged wells, many leaking harmful substances. Despite initial cooperation and months of negotiations, industry opposition to the proposed bill (HB 133) led to its weakening and eventual collapse. The bill aimed to require companies to set aside more money for cleanup, block risky sales, and implement safety buffers, but faced backlash from oil trade groups, which feared the regulations could harm the industry. Similar reform efforts in other states, such as Oklahoma and West Virginia, have also faltered due to industry pressure, weakening laws intended to address the multibillion-dollar shortfall in well cleanup funding. While some states have made progress, the industry’s influence has stymied meaningful reform across the country.
https://www.propublica.org/article/oil-industry-lobbying-unplugged-wells
https://www.propublica.org/article/oil-industry-lobbying-unplugged-wells
ProPublica
How America’s “Most Powerful Lobby” Is Stifling Efforts to Reform Oil Well Cleanup in State After State
In New Mexico, oil companies agreed to work with regulators to find a solution to the state’s more than 70,000 unplugged wells. After months of negotiations, the industry turned against the bill it helped shape.
These entrepreneurs come from a very small number of sectors — and beyond their personal whims, they support the far right because they think it will promote their business interests.
Le Monde has revealed that Pierre-Edouard Stérin, the founder of private equity fund Otium Capital, is a staunch supporter of Marine Le Pen and has backed both her personal and political endeavors. His business partner in Otium Capital, François Durvye, recently paid €2.5 million to the Le Pen family to buy their mansion in western Paris, while allowing the elderly Jean-Marie Le Pen to live there for the rest of his life.
Another example is Charles Gave and his hedge fund Gavekal, a secretive firm based in Hong Kong.
Then comes the energy sector, particularly the fossil fuel industry. The rise of the far right in recent years has been supported by the emergence of the CNews network. Originally called iTele and the French equivalent of CNN, the news channel was bought by Vincent Bolloré, a far-right businessman worth €12 billion. He rebranded it as CNews, fired a large part of the staff, and turned it into a French equivalent of Fox News. Beyond his media holdings, Bolloré made his fortune in the fossil fuel sector, owning a majority of the oil depots in France and many others in Europe; until recently, he also owned transport infrastructure in Africa. He has constantly supported the far right.
Finally, the far right has been supported by figures from the tech sector. French newspaper Libération has reported that the Rassemblement National enjoys the backing of start-up founders like Thomas Fauré, the head of corporate social network Whaller, and Laurent Alexandre, the founder of digital healthcare platform Doctissimo, who has now become a libertarian intellectual.
Nicos Poulantzas showed how the fascist parties of the early twentieth century found fertile ground in the working class and petty bourgeoisie but only rose to power when they managed to attract support from the business elite, too.
Sociologist Félicien Faury has studied Rassemblement National voters in southern France. He has revealed how they are predominantly white owners of property (such as their homes or small businesses) who aim to safeguard their economic, social, and political position by voting for a party that wants to strengthen the current racially segregated order. The Rassemblement National is forging a coalition that includes powerful business interests alongside broader social groups, and racist policies are pivotal to this coalition due to their broad acceptance among both wealthy business owners and other constituents of the party’s base.
The coalition of business groups supporting the Rassemblement National is thus a double-edged sword. It shows that recent votes reflect more than just transient shifts in public opinion. But it is also an indication of what can make the far right fail over the long run: the interests that it defends remain heterogeneous and social movements can contribute to breaking them apart.
https://jacobin.com/2024/07/rassemblement-national-le-pen-billionaires-tech/
Le Monde has revealed that Pierre-Edouard Stérin, the founder of private equity fund Otium Capital, is a staunch supporter of Marine Le Pen and has backed both her personal and political endeavors. His business partner in Otium Capital, François Durvye, recently paid €2.5 million to the Le Pen family to buy their mansion in western Paris, while allowing the elderly Jean-Marie Le Pen to live there for the rest of his life.
Another example is Charles Gave and his hedge fund Gavekal, a secretive firm based in Hong Kong.
Then comes the energy sector, particularly the fossil fuel industry. The rise of the far right in recent years has been supported by the emergence of the CNews network. Originally called iTele and the French equivalent of CNN, the news channel was bought by Vincent Bolloré, a far-right businessman worth €12 billion. He rebranded it as CNews, fired a large part of the staff, and turned it into a French equivalent of Fox News. Beyond his media holdings, Bolloré made his fortune in the fossil fuel sector, owning a majority of the oil depots in France and many others in Europe; until recently, he also owned transport infrastructure in Africa. He has constantly supported the far right.
Finally, the far right has been supported by figures from the tech sector. French newspaper Libération has reported that the Rassemblement National enjoys the backing of start-up founders like Thomas Fauré, the head of corporate social network Whaller, and Laurent Alexandre, the founder of digital healthcare platform Doctissimo, who has now become a libertarian intellectual.
Nicos Poulantzas showed how the fascist parties of the early twentieth century found fertile ground in the working class and petty bourgeoisie but only rose to power when they managed to attract support from the business elite, too.
Sociologist Félicien Faury has studied Rassemblement National voters in southern France. He has revealed how they are predominantly white owners of property (such as their homes or small businesses) who aim to safeguard their economic, social, and political position by voting for a party that wants to strengthen the current racially segregated order. The Rassemblement National is forging a coalition that includes powerful business interests alongside broader social groups, and racist policies are pivotal to this coalition due to their broad acceptance among both wealthy business owners and other constituents of the party’s base.
The coalition of business groups supporting the Rassemblement National is thus a double-edged sword. It shows that recent votes reflect more than just transient shifts in public opinion. But it is also an indication of what can make the far right fail over the long run: the interests that it defends remain heterogeneous and social movements can contribute to breaking them apart.
https://jacobin.com/2024/07/rassemblement-national-le-pen-billionaires-tech/
Jacobin
France’s Far Right Has Rich Backers, and for Good Reason
Not all French business elites look favorably on the rise of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National. But tech bosses, fossil fuel magnates, and “alternative finance” chiefs see plenty to like in its program — and they’re putting their support behind it.
The book focuses on what the authors identify as the radical right, distinguishing it from the “extreme right” and fascism. The extreme right, they contend, generally refers to “revolutionary movements that reject liberal democratic institutions and tend to embrace violence,” while the radical right “accepts democracy but is anti-liberal or illiberal in its worldview and transformative ambitions.”
At the core, then, of the different national versions of the radical right is an account of what Abrahamsen and her coauthors call “global managerialism.”
"the essence of contemporary world politics is not the age-old story of realist power politics, the liberal tale of progress through institutions, or the corrosive spread of neoliberal capitalism. It is instead the rise to power of a global liberal managerial elite, the so-called New Class of experts and bureaucrats. Detached and unmoored from their national identities and cultures, the interests of this elite lie in yet further globalization and liberalization, and work against the interests of traditional national values and local communities."
A central feature of these claims is the identification of a class enemy: the New Class, which includes corporate elites, civil servants, journalists, lawyers, engineers, therapists, academics, consultants, and various bureaucrats.
Unlike left-wing commentators who might identify this group as the professional-managerial class (or PMC) or the new petty bourgeoisie, the radical right is much more likely to point to the fact that the New Class’s power derives from its position in global networks and highlight its disconnection from the local, the traditional, and above all, the nation.
Depending on the national context, other concepts — such as focus on tradition, a defense of “Western values,” and opposition to the Enlightenment — may be more prominent.
Abrahamsen et al. also examine some of the leading strategies it deploys to spread its ideas: the promotion of a radical right publishing industry and radical right educational institutions.
Abrahamsen and her coauthors go as far as to call the radical right “the Gramscian Right,” contending that just as Karl Marx looked to turn Hegelian idealism “on its head,” so the radical right has inverted Gramsci.
Central to their reading of Gramsci is the French Nouvelle Droite (New Right), particularly its main ideologue, Alain de Benoist.
Perhaps the most succinct summary of right-wing Gramscianism is Andrew Breitbart’s dictum, influential among the alt-right, that “politics is downstream of culture.”
As Abrahamsen and her coauthors note, it is now the radical right that occupies the terrain of opposition to the status quo.
It is the book’s understanding of the disruptive force of the radical right that makes the World of the Right an illuminating analysis of the historical moment of demoralization and disorientation in which the Left finds itself today. As one of the authors of the book recently framed it, the radical right recognizes that this is its historical moment.
To confront the radical right’s contemporary success requires acknowledging past failures and engaging in self-criticism — exactly the process the French New Right and others were prepared to undertake in the ’60s.
https://jacobin.com/2025/02/new-right-gramsci-managerialism-trump/
At the core, then, of the different national versions of the radical right is an account of what Abrahamsen and her coauthors call “global managerialism.”
"the essence of contemporary world politics is not the age-old story of realist power politics, the liberal tale of progress through institutions, or the corrosive spread of neoliberal capitalism. It is instead the rise to power of a global liberal managerial elite, the so-called New Class of experts and bureaucrats. Detached and unmoored from their national identities and cultures, the interests of this elite lie in yet further globalization and liberalization, and work against the interests of traditional national values and local communities."
A central feature of these claims is the identification of a class enemy: the New Class, which includes corporate elites, civil servants, journalists, lawyers, engineers, therapists, academics, consultants, and various bureaucrats.
Unlike left-wing commentators who might identify this group as the professional-managerial class (or PMC) or the new petty bourgeoisie, the radical right is much more likely to point to the fact that the New Class’s power derives from its position in global networks and highlight its disconnection from the local, the traditional, and above all, the nation.
Depending on the national context, other concepts — such as focus on tradition, a defense of “Western values,” and opposition to the Enlightenment — may be more prominent.
Abrahamsen et al. also examine some of the leading strategies it deploys to spread its ideas: the promotion of a radical right publishing industry and radical right educational institutions.
Abrahamsen and her coauthors go as far as to call the radical right “the Gramscian Right,” contending that just as Karl Marx looked to turn Hegelian idealism “on its head,” so the radical right has inverted Gramsci.
Central to their reading of Gramsci is the French Nouvelle Droite (New Right), particularly its main ideologue, Alain de Benoist.
Perhaps the most succinct summary of right-wing Gramscianism is Andrew Breitbart’s dictum, influential among the alt-right, that “politics is downstream of culture.”
As Abrahamsen and her coauthors note, it is now the radical right that occupies the terrain of opposition to the status quo.
It is the book’s understanding of the disruptive force of the radical right that makes the World of the Right an illuminating analysis of the historical moment of demoralization and disorientation in which the Left finds itself today. As one of the authors of the book recently framed it, the radical right recognizes that this is its historical moment.
To confront the radical right’s contemporary success requires acknowledging past failures and engaging in self-criticism — exactly the process the French New Right and others were prepared to undertake in the ’60s.
https://jacobin.com/2025/02/new-right-gramsci-managerialism-trump/
Jacobin
Cracking the Right’s Playbook
A new book explores how the radical right has reshaped political conflict, challenging the Left’s anemic response. The book’s provocations urge the Left to reconsider its strategic approach in the face of an increasingly successful global movement.
Bill HF 583 passed a subcommittee yesterday to remove gender identity from the civil rights act. It would make Iowa the first state in the nation go remove a class from its civil rights act. If it passes it would become legal to deny housing, loans, and jobs to trans people, would remove the right to change your gender marker on legal documents even with documentation, and makes it so your birth certificate must reflect your assigned gender at birth, among other things and wider implications.
https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/24/transgender-iowans-would-lose-civil-rights-protections-under-house-bill-advances/80008999007/
https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/24/transgender-iowans-would-lose-civil-rights-protections-under-house-bill-advances/80008999007/
Des Moines Register
Bill ending civil rights protections for trans Iowans advances as protesters handcuffed
House lawmakers on Monday advanced a bill that would remove protections against discrimination for transgender Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
“Today our system of light-touch and risk-based regulation is regularly cited – alongside the City’s internationalism and the skills of those who work here – as one of our chief attractions. It has provided us with a huge competitive advantage and is regarded as the best in the world.” What happened next and where is Britain now?
Rachel Reeves has learnt nothing from the 2008 crash. In her first Mansion House speech as UK Chancellor last November she echoed the call for deregulation. But as Mariana Mazzucato pointed out, according to the OECD, the UK ranks second as the least regulated country in product regulation and fourth least for employment. And the World Bank continues to rate the UK one of the highest in terms of ‘ease to do business’.
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/trumps-maga-and-deregulation/
Rachel Reeves has learnt nothing from the 2008 crash. In her first Mansion House speech as UK Chancellor last November she echoed the call for deregulation. But as Mariana Mazzucato pointed out, according to the OECD, the UK ranks second as the least regulated country in product regulation and fourth least for employment. And the World Bank continues to rate the UK one of the highest in terms of ‘ease to do business’.
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/trumps-maga-and-deregulation/
Michael Roberts Blog
Trump’s MAGA and deregulation
Trump sees the United States as just a big capitalist corporation of which he is chief executive. Just as he did when he was the boss in the TV show, the Apprentice, he thinks he is running a busin…
Anche la spesa in ricerca e sviluppo evidenzia il progressivo declino europeo. Nel 2023, gli Stati Uniti rappresentavano il 38 per cento della spesa Ocse, con un leggero calo rispetto al 1995. La Cina ha registrato un incremento straordinario, passando dal 3 al 35 per cento.
L’Europa, invece, si è ridotta dal 20 al 9 per cento, un dato allarmante che riflette non solo una riduzione degli investimenti, ma anche una specializzazione produttiva meno orientata all’innovazione. Infatti, non è tanto la volontà politica a mancare, quanto un’industria che, per caratteristiche strutturali, non richiede livelli di ricerca e sviluppo paragonabili a quelli di Cina e Stati Uniti.
Più che inseguire narrazioni ottimistiche, è necessario un approccio pragmatico che affronti i problemi alla radice: investimenti insufficienti, carenza di innovazione e difficoltà nel trasformare la ricerca in vantaggio competitivo. Solo con una visione chiara e politiche industriali adeguate sarà possibile colmare il divario con Stati Uniti e Cina e garantire un ruolo centrale all’Europa nel futuro dell’economia globale.
https://www.editorialedomani.it/economia/sfida-innovazione-brevetti-europa-battuta-da-usa-cina-ocg0uerr
L’Europa, invece, si è ridotta dal 20 al 9 per cento, un dato allarmante che riflette non solo una riduzione degli investimenti, ma anche una specializzazione produttiva meno orientata all’innovazione. Infatti, non è tanto la volontà politica a mancare, quanto un’industria che, per caratteristiche strutturali, non richiede livelli di ricerca e sviluppo paragonabili a quelli di Cina e Stati Uniti.
Più che inseguire narrazioni ottimistiche, è necessario un approccio pragmatico che affronti i problemi alla radice: investimenti insufficienti, carenza di innovazione e difficoltà nel trasformare la ricerca in vantaggio competitivo. Solo con una visione chiara e politiche industriali adeguate sarà possibile colmare il divario con Stati Uniti e Cina e garantire un ruolo centrale all’Europa nel futuro dell’economia globale.
https://www.editorialedomani.it/economia/sfida-innovazione-brevetti-europa-battuta-da-usa-cina-ocg0uerr
www.editorialedomani.it
La sfida dell’innovazione: sui brevetti l’Europa è battuta da Usa e Cina
Il Clean Industrial Deal presentato dalla Commissione europea non incentiva la partecipazione del pubblico nella ricerca. Fra i paesi Ocse, chi investe di più sono Stati Uniti, poi la Cina l’Europa, invece, è fanalino di coda. È un dato allarmante che ri…
Pantopia Reading Nook 📰🚩 pinned «Anche la spesa in ricerca e sviluppo evidenzia il progressivo declino europeo. Nel 2023, gli Stati Uniti rappresentavano il 38 per cento della spesa Ocse, con un leggero calo rispetto al 1995. La Cina ha registrato un incremento straordinario, passando dal…»
According to internal memos obtained by ProPublica, the cuts are expected to lead to the deaths of up to a million children from malnutrition, 166,000 deaths from malaria, a 30% rise in tuberculosis cases, and 200,000 additional cases of polio over the next decade. Despite these warnings, senior administration officials, including State Department officials like Peter Marocco, ignored or actively hindered efforts to protect critical programs at USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-rubio-usaid-musk-death-toll-malaria-polio-tuberculosis
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-rubio-usaid-musk-death-toll-malaria-polio-tuberculosis
ProPublica
Internal Memos: Senior USAID Leaders Warned Trump Appointees of Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths From Closing Agency
One million children will go untreated for severe malnutrition, up to 166,000 people will die from malaria and 200,000 more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade, the memos estimated. The programs were cut anyway.