If you have problems displaying this email, follow this link

The Trump disruption puts the EU and the whole world at a crossroads. The choice for progressives, however, is not between playing along with him or returning to the status quo. The task is to offer and promote a new vision for the global economy, one that ensures prosperity for all people and countries. This message was the main thread line of our events in the last couple of weeks, both in the EU and across the Atlantic.

On the EU front, FEPS is contributing to the ongoing EU budget discussions with proposals on how to make the budget serve the purpose of the just transition and social justice.

In this newsletter, we also feature our recent publications on the progressive trade agenda, competitiveness and countering profit-price inflation.   

• The emerging trade regime: Aligning on shared objectives
• Guns or butter? Balancing priorities in the transatlantic relationship
• The geoeconomics of sustainability: Forming strategic partnerships

• Security and Peace
• Migration and Inclusion
• Trade and Industry
• Climate and Energy
• Digital and Data governance

This essay series was presented during the PEN Conference in Washington DC.

• Trump’s tariff boomerang by Pascal Lamy
• Trump’s tariffs can bring a boon for the EU by Anna Kolesnichenko
• Trade as a force for good jobs by Elena Crasta
• How Europe can step up on trade and aid as the US retreats from global institutions by Laura Kelly

📚 Read more.

FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues spoke at an opening panel alongside Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute and former Italian Prime Minister, and Yasmin Fahimi, Chairwomen of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). Rodrigues also gave the concluding speech, highlighting the major global shifts and calling for serious European action in the digital sphere.

The EU needs to create a proper inflation governance framework that would involve not just the ECB’s monetary policy, but a complex of measures on inflation preparedness, prevention, reduction and mitigation.

This policy study was launched during the Progressive Economic Policy 2025 conference.

The annual Territorial Just Transition Stakeholder meeting brings together a diverse range of actors involved in just transition to share knowledge, generate ideas, network and develop recommendations on how to promote territorial just transition pathways.

Michelle O’Sullivan, Associate Professor at the University of Limerick, offers an assessment of recent developments in working conditions and industrial relations, including the successful crisis response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the reforms put forward on labour conditions in the UK and the four-day work week. 

After the launch of the Competitiveness Compass, how can Europe achieve a unified industrial strategy that balances competitiveness with social and regional cohesion?

Listen to Lukas Bertram, economist at the Zoé Institute, in conversation with FEPS Director of Studies and Policy David Rinaldi, as they explore Europe’s competitiveness agenda and the path to an economy fit for the future.

Europe has a choice between accepting pressure to align with the Trump administration, remaining in the inertia of the previous multilateral system, or becoming an active player in reforming global multilateralism. Read more.

Photo credits: Shutterstock.com/Mike Gorsky

Was this email forwarded to you?

Copyright © 2025 FEPS Europe, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you participated in one of FEPS’ events and/or have registered for FEPS’ newsletter.

If you wish not to receive FEPS’ communications anymore, please click here: unsubscribe now

Foundation for European Progressive Studies
Avenue des Arts, 46 – 1000 Bruxelles

+32 223 46 900 – info@feps-europe.eu