LSE European Politics

What can immediate polling tell us about Spain’s snap election?

Blog Team — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:10:37 +0000

An opinion poll caught Spain on either side of Pedro Sánchez’s announcement of snap elections on 5 October. Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte and Alejandro Fernández-Roldán write that it offers a glimpse of the immediate reaction to Sánchez’s latest political gamble. Spain’s sitting Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced a general election for 29 November on 5 October. … Continued

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A debt storm is on the horizon in France

Blog Team — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:10:58 +0000

Mass protests have taken place across France over rising living costs. Yet as Zsófia Barta explains, a looming debt crisis leaves the government with little room for manoeuvre. The clouds on France’s horizon are rather dark at the moment. France’s debt stock as a percentage of GDP is large: larger than any time since the … Continued

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Serbia’s students have shown how to beat an autocrat at the ballot box

Blog Team — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:12:05 +0000

Serbia’s Student List won a dramatic victory in the 2026 Serbian election, ending Aleksandar Vučić’s hold on power. Denisa Kostovicova and Jessie Barton Hronešová explain how a leaderless student movement succeeded in unseating an entrenched regime and assess the challenges it now faces in government. Pobeda! Pobeda! Victory! Victory! Shouted ecstatic crowds that flooded the streets … Continued

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Europe’s vulnerabilities strengthen the case for reversing Brexit

Blog Team — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:47:23 +0000

Europe’s economic and security difficulties are often presented as reasons for Britain to keep its distance from the European Union. However, Giray Gozgor argues that insufficient coordination makes several of these difficulties harder to address. Europe faces a demanding combination of industrial competition, energy insecurity and pressure to strengthen its defence capabilities. These problems invite … Continued

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Spain shows investing in social care can be better value than funding health care

Blog Team — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 09:01:22 +0000

Spain’s 2007 long-term care reform gave older people with care needs access to cash subsidies and publicly funded home help. Joan Costa-Font, Sergi Jiménez-Martín and Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto show this produced benefits that in many cases were more cost-effective than equivalent investments in health care. Health care and social care are usually funded, evaluated and argued … Continued

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How EU leaders use European Council summits to speak to voters back home

Blog Team — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:05:14 +0000

European Council summits are watched closely by national media, even though the actual negotiations happen behind closed doors. Drawing on a new dataset of over 4,500 media appearances by EU leaders, Michele Scotto di Vettimo shows that leaders ramp up rhetoric about “defending national interests” and representing their core constituencies when elections are approaching and … Continued

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The European Political Community could be a platform for Canada-EU cooperation

Blog Team — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:11:21 +0000

The EU and Canada have proposed a new strategic partnership. Uwe Wunderlich, Stefan Gänzle and Tobias Hofelich argue the European Political Community could supply the necessary framework for structuring this emerging transatlantic relationship. Canada-EU relations have entered an unexpectedly ambitious phase. In her State of the Union speech in September, European Commission President Ursula von … Continued

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Europe can still win the race to build the cars of the future

Blog Team — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:38:37 +0000

The shift to electric and software-defined vehicles poses a major threat to Europe’s car industry. But as Angela Garcia Calvo argues, there is still time for Europe to seize the opportunities created by emerging technologies. Europe’s economy is falling behind, at least when it comes to technological innovation and the digital economy. Core European industries … Continued

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Rising market power is pushing small business owners towards the radical right

Blog Team — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 08:40:47 +0000

Small business owners are over-represented among radical right voters. Using data from fourteen EU countries, Tommaso Crescioli and Toon Van Overbeke show that exposure to market concentration in their industry helps explain why. Small enterprises make up around 93 per cent of non-financial firms in Europe and employ about 30 per cent of the workforce. … Continued

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Britain’s state pension is less generous than most of Europe’s

Blog Team — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 11:05:05 +0000

Andy Burnham has announced plans to reform the triple lock system that governs UK state pension increases. Tim Vlandas writes the UK state pension is far from generous when compared with the rest of Europe and the reform risks making the political problem with the triple lock even worse. On 29 September British Prime Minister … Continued

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