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Change against the odds : crisis policy feedback in a politicised EU
No full textPublished online: 16 January 2026Since 2008, EU governments repeatedly pooled their means of fighting severe crises. This happened in an environment where EU policy-making became more politicised, above all polarising and salient. Politicisation is widely considered to constrain EU decision-making. We study how this constraint was overcome by crisis policy feedback. Our case is sovereign bailout funding, which in the 2010s had politicised EU fiscal governance as never before, raising high hurdles for further fiscal institution-building. Yet, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), introduced in 2020-2021, amounted to pre-emptive bailout funding that was publicly and controversially discussed. Based on policy process tracking data, we argue that elites strategically politicised the economic response to the Covid-19 pandemic by critically referencing the policy legacy of the European Stability Mechanism in the Euro Area crisis. Our analysis thus provides evidence for negative policy feedback, driven by top-down politicisation. The wider significance of our finding is that politicisation may no longer be a constraint on European integration but facilitating contested polity formation.Research for this article was funded by an ERC Synergy grant ERC_SYG_2018 (European Research Council) grant number 810356
One fed, many voices : coordinated communication vs. transparent debate
No full textWe analyze 481 speeches by FOMC members since 2007, excluding official press conferences. Combining high-frequency financial data with text analysis, we identify monetary policy surprises and measure each speech’s similarity to the preceding Chair’s press conference. On average, monetary surprises around these speeches have no significant effect on inflation expectations or stock prices. Yet, speeches closely aligned with the Chair amplify policy transmission, while less coordinated remarks dilute ear- lier effects on yields, inflation expectations, and equities. A general equilibrium model with incomplete information rationalizes these findings
EUI-YouGov SiE survey on solidarity in Europe : trendfile and yearly datasets
No full text8 year datasets + 1 trendfile dataset (all compressed) + 1 documentation fileThe SiE dataset on European solidarity is built on a large yearly survey designed by the EUI 'Solidarity in Europe' and SOLID ERC research teams in cooperation with Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and implemented by YouGov. The survey is implemented every Spring since 2018 and covers a number of topics including: the concept of solidarity among EU states and beyond; support for cross-border solidarity, also against hypothetical crisis scenarios; evaluation of responses to different crises through various instruments, including the recent Covid-19 outbreak and the war in Ukraine; preferences concerning taxes and welfare policy; satisfaction and trust concerning governments, the EU and international actors; security and defence, Russia, NATO and a European army; strength of national and European identities; value of democracy; salience of various issues and threats to citizens and countries; intention in a EU-membership referendum and other EU integration-related indicators; world politics; political ideology, religion and voting preferences; as well as other individual attributes such as gender, age and occupation. The data available here contains the yearly datasets for each of the 2018 - 2025 waves as well as a trendfile merging the most relevant questions repeated across the seven waves. The survey team has increased its geographic scope and number of respondents; the last wave inquired over 29.700 respondents in 21 EU countries and the United Kingdom.This survey has been designed by the EUI 'Solidarity in Europe' research team (the data creators) and implemented by YouGov UK. It was conducted using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov Plc UK panel of 800,000+ individuals who have agreed to take part in surveys. Emails are sent to panellists selected at random from the base sample. The e-mail invites them to take part in a survey and provides a generic survey link. Once a panel member clicks on the link they are sent to the survey that they are most required for, according to the sample definition and quotas. (The sample definition could be "GB adult population" or a subset such as "GB adult females"). Invitations to surveys don’t expire and respondents can be sent to any available survey. The responding sample is weighted to the profile of the sample definition to provide a representative reporting sample. The profile is normally derived from census data or, if not available from the census, from industry accepted data.The dataset for each wave is based on a survey fielded each year, designed by the EUI 'Solidarity in Europe' research team and implemented in April by YouGov. This survey is conducted online via the YouGov app in a varying number of countries; until 2019 (included), the number of survey participants was set at around 11.000, having doubled in the waves succeeding 2020. In 2025, the survey was fielded in 21 EU countries (Belgium, Romania, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, France, Sweden, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Ireland, Austria) and the United Kingdom.The survey covers different topics, covered in detail in the abstract and in each wave's supporting documentation (codebook and questionnaire). The trendfile dataset merges data on key questions repeatedly asked since 2018 (either exactly or with minor revisions), in order to provide a longitudinal view on the evolution of critical indications concerning European solidarity, European security and defence, policy preferences and other inquired topics. The trendfile supporting documentation (codebook) details the countries, number of respondents, the selected longitudinal variables and other information concerning each of the survey waves
The Term 'Essence of Rights' in the 2013-2022 Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights dataset
No full text2 data file, 1 documentation fileThe dataset processes 364 ECtHR judgments, collected, classified and analysed for the purpose of the LAW PhD dissertation 'Making (Es)sense of Rights: A Study of the Term 'Essence of Rights' in the Recent ECtHR Case Law'. The collected judgments (Chambers and Grand Chamber) were published between 2013 and 2022, in English or French, and included at least one mention of the terms 'essence of rights', 'core', 'heart', 'substance' or 'coeur'. They were classified into 11 categories defined in the classification frame, according to a method combining empirical content analysis (panel of judges; provision concerned; Articles 15, 17 and 18 of the ECHR; References to domestic, EU, ECHR or international instruments; just satisfaction ruling; separate opinions) and doctrinal case law analysis (Applicant's arguments; Respondents' arguments; Counterbalancing element(s); Function(s) by the ECtHR).Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, collected from the official database of the Court, HUDOC
High steaks : climate change mitigation in the cattle sector
No full textDefence date: 14 March 2022Examining Board: Prof. Joanne Scott (European University Institute); Prof. Neha Jain (European University Institute); Prof. Maria Lee (University College London, External Examiner); Dr Jolene Lin (National University of Singapore)Increasingly, the environmental impact of animal agriculture is being recognised. In the past, climate criticism was largely reserved for the fossil fuel sector, or even the transport and aviation sectors. However, now it is being realised that the agricultural sector is also a major contributor to climate change, particularly in terms of livestock production. Despite this, little attention has been paid, either in academic writing or in policy making, to improving the climate impacts of the livestock sector. This thesis begins to address this gap. Using a novel critical frame analysis approach, it seeks to provide a broad macro-level analysis of various legal regimes on the international and European level that affect emissions from cattle (and where relevant, livestock more broadly). On the basis of this critical frame analysis, tensions, synergies and common themes for livestock emissions mitigation across these regimes can be identified and investigated. It is hoped that this can help to strengthen productive synergies and to reduce damaging tensions while promoting fairer and more effective emissions mitigation for the sector. Most importantly, the thesis highlights affluence as the ‘forgotten’ problem in reducing cattle emissions. The importance of this key insight in terms of tackling future livestock emissions trajectories is significant, particularly in relation to the climate justice dimension of climate mitigation
Irregular migrants’ access to work, healthcare and housing in the European Union : is it all about status?
No full textPublished online: March 2026The aim of this study is to gain a broad comparative picture of irregular migrants’ practical access to services and employment in EU states with external borders, and to explore the factors that contribute to variations in access, going beyond legal status and de jure rights. It presents the results of 1,527 survey interviews with migrants holding regular or irregular status across five countries that are points of arrival into the EU (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain). Two rounds of follow-up interviews over 12 months also aimed to investigate changes in status, in access to services and working conditions, and in onward movement intentions. Results suggest that status is one of numerous factors impacting on irregular migrants’ access to basic services and decent work. In Greece, almost all respondents found access to services challenging, but conditions were worse among those with irregular status. In Croatia, in contrast, there was a large differential between those with regular status and those with irregular status. Access to work and services appeared more related to language, nationality and ethnicity in Poland than to status. In Italy, irregular status was linked to worse access to housing and healthcare. Access to basic services appeared better in Spain than elsewhere. The longitudinal research offers a mixed picture of evolving conditions according to kind of service and country. It reveals frequent changes in status and suggests that access to work and working conditions improved somewhat over time. Holding irregular status is of serious concern to respondents, and respondents would strongly prefer regular status, yet they are often held back from achieving, or even seeking it. The results indicate that policies should not assume that migrants deliberately seek irregular status, informal work, or social welfare, or that onward migration is a common strategy to improve conditions.PRIME is funded by the European Union Horizon Europe funding programme for research and innovation (project number 101095113)
Comparing the working activities and conditions of irregularised migrants : evidence from Austria, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK
No full textPublished online: March 2026This report examines the living and working conditions of irregularised migrants across five European countries (Austria, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the UK) and four sectors of work (agriculture and food processing, restaurants, elder care, and waste management). Drawing on over 200 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2024 and 2025, the study utilises a three-dimensional comparative framework to analyse the impact of work sectors, legal status, and national institutional contexts on the lives of irregularised migrants. While there is a wealth of research on specific sectors of work, individual country contexts, and legal statuses, our contribution is in analysing these dynamics in comparative perspective. The findings reveal a striking convergence in the lived realities of workers despite differing national labour, welfare and migration regimes. Across all sectors, migrant workers face a continuum of exploitation, characterized by wage theft, excessive hours, and hazardous environments without adequate safety training. A reliance on intermediaries, ranging from temporary work agencies to informal brokers, often renders the actual employer an invisible figure and facilitates scams that lead to further irregularisation. Sector-specific insights include: (i) the prevalence of intense physical demands and employer-controlled housing or informal camps in agriculture/food processing, used as a tool for coercion; (ii) the restaurant sector serving as an entry point, including for overqualified students and asylum seekers working back-of-house roles in breach of visa limits; (iii) the high incidence of isolation and physical and/or sexual harassment in the elder care sector, particularly in live-in arrangements where residency is tied to the employer, as well as racism and heavy workload in institutional care homes; (iv) despite waste management being a highly regulated sector overall, there is still significant ad hoc, hidden work undertaken by irregularised migrants, particularly at night or in isolated settings. The report highlights that irregularity is a condition imposed by restrictive policies to inform migration governance across national settings, in which (illicit) intermediaries serve a fundamental role. While migrant workers across legal statuses express a desire to strengthen their status, there is a pervasive sense of entrapment and an inability to escape the dire working and living conditions.PRIME is funded by the European Union Horizon Europe funding programme for research and innovation (project number 101095113)
On the move : mobility and Early Modern translation
No full textPublished online: 16 February 2026While the rising prominence of translations has long been recognized as an essential element of early modern intellectual life, this volume shifts the focus from translated texts to the individuals who translated them. Through a series of interlocking case studies, it follows translators from Europe, through the Ottoman Empire, and as far as Mughal India, in the process raising new questions about the possibilities—and the limits—of trans-linguistic dialogue, and about translators’ unique role as agents of encounter in a world in which ideas, texts and people circulated as never before.-- Introduction (Thomson)
-- Chapter 1. The Wages of Exile: Translation and Mobility in Laurence Humphrey's Interpretatio Linguarum (Pérez Fernández)
-- Chapter 2. 'Come Poeta Che Finge, Non Come Filosofo Che Argomenta' (Lista)
-- Chapter 3. 'Un Eroico Traduttore' (Castagnino)
-- Chapter 4. Joseph Morgan between England and Algiers (Thomson)
-- Chapter 5. The Gate of Languages Unlocked, or Is It Not? (Tezcan)
-- Chapter 6. The Ottomanisation of Renaissance Medicine: Hayâtîzâde's Healing Treatises for Formidable Diseases (Durmaz)
-- Chapter 7. 'Just Learning the Languages of India …' (Cattaneo)
-- Chapter 8. Language, Translation and Mobility across the Mediterranean and Beyond (Casale)
-- Chapter 9. Situating Early Modern Translators: A Mediterranean
-- Epilogue (Hanß
One track mind : secondary effects in school choice and social capital in a stratified system
No full textPublished online: 02 February 2026At similar performance levels, socioeconomically advantaged students typically choose more demanding and prestigious educational paths than their less advantaged peers. Such secondary effects are often studied in school continuation decisions or track choice but may also manifest in school choice, offering an alternative avenue for parental influence in education. This study examines secondary effects in school choice and the role of social capital—resources embedded in peer and parental networks in primary school—in these patterns within the context of the Netherlands. I rely on linked sociometric and full-population register data for Dutch students who have recently transitioned to secondary school. Hypotheses are tested using fixed effects regression models to account for (self-)selection into primary school. Results indicate that secondary school choice is socially stratified: Students from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to avoid pre-vocational schools, prefer pre-university schools, and opt for heterogeneous classes at intermediate performance levels. There is limited evidence for the relation between social capital and the type of school chosen. A notable exception is that lower-SES students are less likely to enroll in pre-vocational schools if their parents are integrated into resource-rich networks in primary school, suggesting that such networks may play a compensatory role by discouraging decisions that hinder upward-track mobility
Hidden dropout : secondary education (unseen) failure in pandemic times
No full textPublished online: 20 January 2026We estimate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on hidden dropout, a new measure indicating failure in achieving the minimum level of skills considered to be adequate for a student getting a high school diploma. We compare two cohorts of students, one affected and the other unaffected by the pandemic, both in a cross-sectional and in a difference-in-differences specification. We find that hidden dropout increases for the exposed cohort by 6.5–8.7 percentage points. The effect is mainly driven by the transition into hidden dropout status, and it is stronger for students with lower prior achievement, from poorer families, and for immigrants