Social and environmental justice in the EU

On 1 May, we commemorated the 20th anniversary of the accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. During these 20 years, the EU has gone through many crises. Their redistributive effects on European society have not been sufficiently controlled by the Member States. We are seeing, for example, that the top five richest people in the EU have increased their wealth by 76% in the last three years and now own a total of EUR 429 billion in assets. It is estimated that they were earning an average of EUR 5.7 million per hour. However, their wealth is taxed much less than the tax burden on employees. 

In the coming years, it will be necessary to finance the costs of the triple transformation: the green, digital and social transformation that the EU Member States must undergo. Looking ahead, this event took place on 2 May 2024 between 16:00 – 18:00 at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Univerzita Komenskéhom in Bratislava and discussed questions including: What new resources could be mobilised and what specific policies could they be used for? What does the European Citizens’ Initiative “Tax the rich” propose? 

This event was part of the joint project of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the Progressive Forum (Proforum) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Bratislava to raise awareness and collect the necessary signatures for the “Tax the rich” ECI in the Slovak Republic. The panel discussion was held in Slovak. For more information on the event, please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa Zwisele, FEPS Project Officer (vanessa.zwisele@feps-europe.eu).