Liberal Europe Blog

The motto of the European Liberal Forum is own the future. But we can’t own the future if liberals fail children in Europe: In 2024, about 24.2% of children (19.5 million) in the EU faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Both Swedish liberal parties, Centerpartiet and Liberalerna, achieved much better election results than previously expected. But they have chosen not only different sides in the political arena, but also completely different electoral strategies.

Europe’s housing crisis is fundamentally a supply problem, yet the Affordable Housing Act still puts too much emphasis on regulating short-term rentals. If Europe wants to make housing genuinely more affordable, it needs to make it easier to build, renovate and bring vacant homes back to market.

What to think of the Commission’s Action Plan? First of all, it’s good that it’s finally there. A plan that tackles the price, tax and infrastructure barriers head-on is a necessary and overdue step. However, there are some limitations to the plan.

Albania’s “Flamingo Revolution” began as a protest against a luxury resort in the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape, but has grown into a broader civic movement demanding transparency, accountability, and a genuine voice in public decision-making. As EU accession talks advance, this wave of mobilisation shows that Albania’s European future depends not only on technical reforms, but on citizens who believe their voices matter.

It’s time for liberals to reclaim national symbols. For too long, liberals have shied away from expressions of national pride, leaving a gap for the far right to fill. Yet every four years, the World Cup shows us a different kind of national identity, joyful, civic, and inclusive. One that should not be feared.

Western Europe is melting under its second heat dome in two months, with temperatures spiking above 40°C and heat alerts posted across 26 countries, from Ireland to Greece. Records are being broken by shocking margins. Europe remains the world’s fastest-warming continent, heating at roughly twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s.

Armenia is standing at a historic crossroads. The upcoming parliamentary election essentially is a fundamental referendum on the country’s strategic and geopolitical alignment.

The challenge in front of us is to rebuild the social foundations that allow people to trust one another, form relationships, and find a path for a shared future together.

The European Commission has published three interconnected proposals that aim to enable Europeans to book and travel by train more easily. These regulations tackle fragmentation in the railway market whilst promoting competition and sustainability. Together, they represent a distinctly liberal approach: removing barriers, empowering consumers, and tackling market gatekeeping.  

Europe’s unanimity rule is increasingly turning strategic decision-making into political paralysis. The concept of a “pooled veto” offers an alternative approach, preserving safeguards for national interests while preventing single governments from obstructing decisions that affect the entire Union

Key pillars EU policymaking should uphold in the coming years: competitiveness, strategic autonomy, and security. But it is difficult to talk about European competitiveness if it is primarily driven by non-EU companies.