Political philosophy

In 2018, around 672 300 persons acquired citizenship of one of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), down from 700 600 in 2017 and 843 900 in 2016.

President Klaus Iohannis has announced on Wednesday that an extraordinary budget revision is being shaped up, destined to earmark money for Health and the payment of technical unemployment. "An extraordinary budget revision is being shaped up which will be carried out in this state of emergency on two levels.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has sharply criticized China's behavior in the spread of coronavirus, saying the ruling Communist Party is still hiding information needed to prevent other cases.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared a general nationwide lockdown as of 6am, 23 March.
The move came after a doubling of Covid-19 cases in Greece in the 24 hours prior to the announcement, although it was widely expected for days.

Aspiring authoritarian leaders and populist politicians are encouraged by divisive politics within mainstream political parties. They feel emboldened by blatant attacks on civil liberties by seasoned autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

As in countries across the world, pro-democracy grassroots movements had little success in stopping assaults on independent institutions, the report found.

"While protest movements in every region have illustrated widespread popular demand for better governance, they have yet to reverse the overall pattern of declining freedom," Freedom House said in a statement.

In 2018, non-European Union citizens were at a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion than foreign European Union (EU) citizens or national citizens. Across the whole of the EU, 45% of non-EU citizens were assessed to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion compared with 29% of foreign EU citizens and 21% for nationals.

By the end of the 1980s, some believed that this system of governance, which engendered economic success and political stability, had won the day against any alternative. Communist and fascist authoritarianism were discredited. A mood of triumphalism set in, breeding complacency. But things look a lot less rosy for liberal democrats today.

It goes without saying that the political opposition has an institutional obligation to keep the government in check.

SYRIZA's latest video campaign against Greece's seven-month-old conservative administration is a legitimate move, even if it occasionally resorts to half-truths and cheap populism, like when it misrepresents the prime minister's diplomatic activity as tourism.

Nicaraguan opposition party CxL on Feb. 20 denounced the killing by gunmen of one of its leaders in the northeast of the country

"Three armed men came to kidnap the leader of Ciudadanos por la Libertad (Citizens for Freedom, CxL) Jose Lopez, 51, and kill him," the party said in a statement.