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FEPS Newsletter 17 Feb 2026 – 🙌 Standing up for a progressive EU

Finding answers to the EU’s shared challenges If you have problems displaying this email, follow […]
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17/02/2026
Finding answers to the EU’s shared challenges

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From Brussels to Croatia, France and Portugal, FEPS has been on the move across Europe in recent weeks: we called for a gender agenda for a clean industrial transition, mapped transnational far-right networks, tackled pressing questions around occupational safety and health at work and explored local progressive solutions to the housing crisis. 
 

Discover the key highlights and upcoming events below!
Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule
Ukraine Solidarity Day
 

📅  23 FEBRUARY

💻 ONLINE

Ukraine Solidarity Day
Securing EU’s long-term support for Ukraine 
 

While there are feeble signs of possible negotiations, the past months have also brought some of the most brutal Russian attacks on Kyiv and other cities.
 

In this moment of profound uncertainty and with the 4th anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching, how can Europe reaffirm its support for Ukraine’s struggle? Register now!
Place-based industrial policy in Europe
 

📅  19 MARCH

📍 FEPS HQ

Place-based industrial policy in Europe
 

This event will discuss how regional and local political processes determine the shape of industrial policy and how social democrats can better develop, implement and manage the politics of industrial policy in critical sectors and regions. 
 

It will also the occasion to launch our upcoming policy study “Place-based industrial policy in Europe”. Register here.

Past events

See all past events

4 FEB – FEPS HQ

Developing a clean industry gender agenda in times of deregulation and policy backlash

An event by FEPS, in partnership with FES
 

Gender is a missing component within the growing discussions about industrial policy in the EU and the development of new policies to support industrial decarbonisation and clean technologies.
 

The meeting brought together civil society, industry and policy experts working on gender and industrial policy to discuss:
Developing a clean industry gender agenda in times of deregulation and policy backlash
  • Women representation in clean industries and policy options for better integration
  • Strengthening gender perspectives in clean industry: arguments and narratives
  • State of the EU clean industrial policies and upcoming files from a gender perspective
  • Mapping concrete opportunities in the EU clean industry policy agenda
Mapping transnational far-right networks in Europe

23 JAN – LISBON, PORTUGAL

Mapping transnational far-right networks in Europe

An event by FEPS, in partnership with Fundação Res Publica, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Eteron
 

Across Europe, far-right actors increasingly operate through interconnected transnational networks. Understanding how these networks function is essential to defending democratic values and sustaining progressive political spaces, both online and offline.

Building on the first roundtable in December 2025 and continuing into a series of strategic meetings in 2026, this second meeting focuses on mapping key transnational actors, coordination spaces and digital ecosystems that underpin far-right mobilisation.

3-4 FEB – FEPS HQ

Go Beyond: Zero deaths at work 

Brussels visit

A training organised by FEPS, in partnership with Fondazione Pietro Nenni
 

The fourth module of the Go Beyond Academy addressed the objective of Zero Deaths at Work and  prioritising occupational safety and health as a core priority for the EU. This final module concluded the Academy’s journey, which started in Rome and culminated in Brussels.
Go Beyond: Zero deaths at work
Training of Trainers

23-25 JAN – ZAGREB, CROATIA

Training of Trainers

A training organised by FEPS, in partnership with Foundation Max van der Stoel and Karl-Renner-Institut
 

The event brought together experienced and aspiring trainers from across the Balkan region, as well as participants from Poland, Hungary and Czechia. The programme combined interactive methodologies, peer learning and practical exercises, with a strong emphasis on training in a European context and on addressing shared challenges across the EU.
News
Spain trains them, Europe hires them: the map of the new brain drain
 

Spain trains them, Europe hires them: the map of the new brain drain

An article published in El Confidencial
 

László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, discusses the ‘brain drain’ as a result of the EU’s single market and highlights the need for a fairer mobility and retention strategy across the EU. The article is also available in english. 

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Na_Studio
FEPS in Lille for its Away Days
 

FEPS in Lille for its Away Days
 

The FEPS Team spent two days in Lille for its Away Days, immersing in the housing policy and exploring local progressive solutions.
 

FEPS was welcomed by leading socialist representatives in Lille to discuss the successes and challenges of policies and programmes they introduced in the city.
Progressive Post

DOSSIER

Building fair values chains
 

Against the backdrop of current geopolitical instability and unpredictability, it has become a strategic imperative for the European Union to reduce dangerous dependencies and build stable, resilient supply chains. 
Building fair values chains

Photo credits:  Shutterstock.com/Matej Kastelic
Europe needs animal spirits again – and deregulation will not stimulate them

PROGRESSIVE PAGE

Europe needs animal spirits again – and deregulation will not stimulate them

By Claes-Mikael Ståhl Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation

Europe’s competitiveness debate is accelerating under a growing sense of urgency. The conservative right and employers’ organisations present deregulation as the solution, as if Europe’s future could be secured by cutting back protections rather than by building long-term capacity.
 

For progressives, this moment demands not only resistance to bad ideas, but the responsibility to put forward a credible alternative. Read more.

Photo credits: European Union 2025

PROGRESSIVE PAGE

It’s the European economy, stupid

By Esther-Mirjam Sent, Chair of the Labour Party (PvdA) in the Netherlands, Professor of economic theory and policy at Radboud University, Netherlands
It’s the European economy, stupid

Increasingly, Europe’s economy is portrayed as incompatible with competitiveness. This framing confuses institutional constraint with economic weakness and risks eroding the foundations of Europe’s prosperity and social cohesion. Read more.

Photo credits: Shutterstock / wjarek
 

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