This Pandemic Has Too Many Predictable “I Told You So’s”

Most of Europe is back in lockdown, presumably as punishment for our sins of going outside during the summer, and as preparation for the Christmas holidays. It feels like being back in school, where a patronizing teacher indicates that the children are incapable of behaving themselves. To some Europeans, this is a surprising development. Yet […]

Fight mycotoxin contamination with modern technology

Every consumer will know this problem: you come home from a long trip but the fruits, vegetables, and yoghurt are still in the fridge. “Expiry dates are just an industry trick to sell more food” is a thought that leads some to disregard the mould that has formed on all of these items over time, […]

Introducing the ConsEUmer podcast / EP1: Targeted Fun (w/ Yaël Ossowski)

This week I launched the ConsEUmer podcast, the European podcast of the Consumer Choice Center. Broadcasting every Thursday, wherever you listen to podcasts. I will be updating you on the latest consumer choice issues in the EU and its member states, and will also host a weekly guest. This week with Yaël Ossowski, on targeted […]

Biden Has an Opportunity to Improve Trade With Europe

The Europeans killed a potential deal during the Obama years, but the world is a different place now. Trade relationships with Europe have been painstakingly petty for the last four years. In 2019, the U.S ended the WTO’s appellate body by refusing to appoint new members, which meant that the world’s arbiter on trade had […]

Putting a price on the European Green Deal

The European Green Deal (EGD) is one of the cornerstones of the Von der Leyen Commission. It is hardly controversial to say that European policymakers have responded to public pressure with more environmentally friendly policies, which have, in turn, created heated debates over many other EU policies, ranging from CAP reform to the EU-Mercosur free […]

Joe Biden Is Already On The Warpath Against Brexit

The challenges facing President-elect Joe Biden seem unsurmountable from the perspective of a European. Biden needs to simultaneously juggle an incumbent president challenging the legitimacy of the election, large chunks of the voting population skeptical of the democratic process, the far left wing of his own party, a Republican Senate, the COVID-19 pandemic, and an […]

Give patients more access: We need zero VAT on medicines in Europe

As Europeans face a public health crisis, we should increase patient accessibility by abolishing VAT on the most essential of goods. The COVID-19 pandemic has put health policy back into the hearts and minds of European decision-makers. Before the outbreak, Europe had been in a debate about drug pricing, but it only involved the upper […]

Free Speech In France Is Under Attack By Islamism

Another terrorist attack there calls to mind Charlie Hebdo and the extent to which Muslim youths feel alienated from French society. The gruesome murder of a French history teacher earlier this month, five years after the deadly terrorist attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, has all of France talking about the value […]

Gene-editing innovations can save us (if we let them)

2020 marked a first in the history of the Nobel Prize. For the first since its creation, a science Nobel Prize has been awarded to two women. Jenifer Doudna from the University of California, and Emmanuelle Charpentier from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, […]