"A European Super-PAC To Take On Bannon’s Illiberal Shock Troops", 24 Jul 2018

The 2019 elections for the European Parliament boil down to a war between supporters of EU integration, multilateralism and liberal values, and those who aim at a Europe of illiberal polities, often coupled with state capitalism and ethno-nationalism... While private companies also face an increasingly heated political climate, they are not coming out with their visions for the EU, at least not publicly.  Despite the existential threat to Europe’s core liberal values... the private sector [is] not taking a public stand on political issues unrelated to their bottom line. Yet...inaction is no longer the safe haven it once was for multinational corporations... [I]n the Twitter era, silence is more noticeable and may be viewed as a sign of tacit approval of illiberal political leaders'...views... More critically, these...same leaders did not hesitate to use their governments’ successes in attracting foreign investment as fig leaves for their illiberalism... [B]ig Western industrial groups are benefiting from the EU’s economic freedoms– by investing in countries, such as Hungary and Poland – without standing up for the political values in which those liberties are embedded. That should lead some civil society, political and philanthropic leaders to devise a radical, inclusive model for engaging also the private sector into a pro-democratic coalition in the ongoing European debate... "