FEPS Newsletter 17 Sept 2025 – 🌍 Migration – From control to cooperation

And SOTEU, industry, inflation, EU budget.. – If you have problems displaying this email, follow […]

17/09/2025
And SOTEU, industry, inflation, EU budget.. –

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On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the relationship between the EU and the African Union, we will host a public conference of the Progressive Migration Group (PMG) in Rome, and launch the new cycle of the PMG series, dedicated to EU-African migration governance.

 

We’ve only been back for two weeks, but it’s already been eventful: we addressed the need for EU digital sovereignty, preparedness for inflation in Europe, reacted to the State of the Union address and EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) proposal submitted by the European Commission. Next, we will turn to industrial policy, to ensure the Commission prioritises a clean, just, and competitive industrial strategy, as well as to mental health. Check it out!

Progressive Migration Group
EU-AU migration governance

POLICY BRIEFS

EU-AU migration governance

Progressive Migration Group series

By Lukmon Akintola and Steffen Angenendt – In collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Fondazione Socialismo ETS

 

The PMG launches its 2025 policy brief series on EU-African migration governance, urging for a shift from coercion to cooperation, calling for rights-based, evidence-driven and pragmatic collaboration that strengthens African agency.

UPCOMING EVENT – 26 SEPT – ROME, ITALY & ONLINE

From the obsession with irregularity to legal pathways

Progressive Migration Group – Rome

In collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Fondazione Socialismo ETS

 
From the obsession with irregularity to legal pathways

Ahead of the 7th EU-African Union Summit, the PMG gathers African and European experts in Rome to debate EU-Africa migration relations, moving beyond securitised, emotionally charged migration narratives towards equitable dialogue and evidence-based, mutually beneficial cooperation and partnership. 

Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule

A clean, just, and competitive European Industry
 

📅  24 SEPT

📍  BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

A clean, just, and competitive European Industry
Policy Conference

Since the release of the Draghi Report one year ago, competitiveness has become the buzzword of this EU mandate – but what does it really mean?

 

Building on 2024’s edition, this year’s policy conference will focus on the goals and means for a clean, just and competitive European industrial policy.

 

It will bring together a wide array of speakers, from high-level political figures to trade union and business representatives, civil society experts and academic researchers. Register.

Healthy minds, stronger Europe
 

10 OCT

📍FEPS HQ

Healthy minds, stronger Europe
Progressive solutions for Europe’s mental health

Creating real momentum and policy work on mental health has been lacking in the EU budget and Commission mandate. On the occasion of the Mental Health Day, this event will discuss mental health in the context of work, digital technologies, and addictive behaviour. Register.

Past events

See all past events

3 SEPT – EESC HQ

Inflation preparedness in the EU

Lessons learned and a new Inflation Governance Framework 

In collaboration with European Economic and Social Committee, Fondazione Pietro Nenni and TASC 

 

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting everyone – inflation driven by speculation and profits must stop!

Unpacking the Clean Industrial Deal 

We were at the European Economic and Social Committee to present the policy study “The profit-price spiral in food and energy“, which focused on two significant sectors – food and energy – and show that companies in food and energy supply chains have reaped abnormally high profits during the 2021-23 inflation episode. 

 

🎧 Listen to the study on the go with the FEPS Talks episode with authors of the policy study Ben Tippet and Anna Kolesnichenko!

A progressive roadmap for expanding European digital sovereignty

2 SEPT – EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

A progressive roadmap for expanding European digital sovereignty

Digital Europe working group

By FEPS and FES 

 

It’s time to break up Big Tech’s “broligarchy” – we need European digital sovereignty. At the European Parliament with members of the S&D Group, author Cecilia Rikap launched the policy brief “A progressive roadmap for expanding European digital sovereignty”. It opened the discussion for a progressive, public-centred digital sovereignty, countering the dominant, market-centred narrative.

15 SEPT – FEPS HQ

The Women–Life–Freedom Movement in Iran today 

By FEPS, in collaboration with the Institute for Geopolitical Analyses and the Democritus University of Thrace

 

How can Europe uphold the courageous work of women who continue to expose the brutal Iranian regime two years after the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini that sparked the Women-Life-Freedom uprising?

The Women–Life–Freedom Movement in Iran today 

This event brought the debates on international gender equality into a political space where they matter most, with a screening of ‘When Women Shake the Sky’ and testimonies from the Iranian activists featured in the film. 

News
The Progressive Compass

COMMENTARY

Von der Leyen – walking the walk at last?

FEPS reaction to The State of the European Union 2025

By László Andor with inputs from FEPS Policy Analysts

 

In its reaction to the 2025 State of the Union address, FEPS highlighted several key issues:

  • European independence after the humiliation of the EU-US trade negotiations
  • Solidarity with Ukraine and support for reconstruction
  • The Commission’s stance on the genocidal destruction committed by the Israeli army in Gaza
  • Commitments to advancing Social Europe
  • Risks linked to the ‘bogus omnibus’ process

And more.

Podcast

FEPS TALKS PODCAST

The long roads to peace: Europe, Ukraine, and global diplomacy

With Stephen Bronner and László Andor

 

🎧  Spotify | Apple Podcast | Website | Youtube

Listen to the podcast

In this interview, Prof. Stephen Bronner reflects on the impact of the Alaska summit on diplomacy surrounding the war in Ukraine, and outlines concrete steps that could help bring the two sides closer to each other. He also connects the concept of peace with culture, stressing the importance of keeping conflict prevention high on the agenda, also as part of European foreign policy.

The Progressive Post
The next MFF: turning the glue into solvent?

DOSSIER

The next MFF: turning the glue into solvent?

 

The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is not just a question of figures, but of methodology and criteria.

This dossier analyses the new MFF’s potential negative impact on the EU’s cohesion policy and Just Transition:

📚 Read more

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In the media

« La souveraineté numérique européenne est un défi d’ordre civilisationnel »

by Le Monde 15/11/2025
"European digital sovereignty is a challenge for civilisation as a whole". In an opinion piece in the newspaper Le Monde, FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues shares her concerns about European digital dependence on American and Asian giants

When Algorithms Undermine Democracy: Europe’s Wake-Up Call

by Social Europe 11/11/2025
Maja Fjaestad and Simon Vinge, co-editors of FEPS book "Algorithmic rule", wrote this op-ed on the power of algorithms and how they threaten the foundations of democratic oversight

Los mapas de las fronteras internas que alimentan el voto ultra en Europa

by El Confidencial 13/10/2025
"The internal border maps that fuel the far-right vote in Europe" - FEPS Secretary-General László Andor discusses the impact of cohesion policies on social inequalities and the rise of the far-right across Europe in this El Confidencial article.

Migranti: Amato a FEPS — “Socialisti e populisti fomentano ossessione”

by Avanti! 29/09/2025
“Migrants: Amato to FEPS — ‘Socialists and populists fuel obsession’” News article in Avanti! where Hedwig Giusto, FEPS Head of International Affairs, critiques how both populist and some socialist political forces are stoking fear around migration. Giusto calls for balanced migration policies that respect human rights, reinforce solidarity among member states, and reject securitarian obsessions.