FEPS Newsletter 1 Sept 2025 – 📬 We are back with plenty to share!

Inflation in the EU, competitiveness, PMG… If you have problems displaying this email, follow this […]

01/09/2025
Inflation in the EU, competitiveness, PMG…

If you have problems displaying this email, follow this link

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful summer because the rentrée kicks off right away with plenty of interesting activities! To start with, this week we’ll tackle the pressing issue of inflation: why it’s happening, who’s behind it, and how we can prevent it. Join us on 3 September at the EESC! We’ll then turn to industrial policy and how to ensure it’s competitive but also clean and just at our upcoming Policy Conference.

 

This summer also offered a valuable pause, a chance to reflect on the role of social democratic parties in Europe and to take a closer look at developments across the Atlantic in the US. Check it out!

Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule

Inflation preparedness in the EU
 

📅  3 SEPT

📍  EESC HQ

Inflation preparedness in the EU

Join us this Wednesday to explore key lessons from the recent inflation episode, which was largely caused by a few huge companies that reap enormous profits on speculation. We will also discuss a new inflation governance framework to prevent or mitigate inflation shocks in the future. 

 

We will also present the policy study “The profit-price spiral in food and energy“, which examines the drivers of inflation in these critical sectors. Register and get a taste of this key topic with the podcast ‘How to stop inflation’.

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 the successful first edition in 2024, 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.

Progressive Migration Group – Rome
 

📅  26 SEPT

📍 ROME, ITALY & ONLINE

From the obsession with irregularity to legal pathways
Progressive Migration Group – Rome

Ahead of the 7th EU-African Union Summit, the Progressive Migration Group 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. Register.

The Women–Life–Freedom Movement in Iran today
 

📅  15 SEPT

📍 FEPS HQ

The Women–Life–Freedom Movement in Iran today

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?

 

This event includes a screening of the film ‘When Women Shake the Sky’ and inputs from Iranian activists. Register!

Social Democracy

Check out the latest content of the Next Left research programme – by FEPS and the Karl-Renner-Institut – focusing on reinvigorating the progressive movement. Based on empirical evidence from trusted pollsters, we examine key trends shaping Europe’s future and reflect on the lessons learned from the 2024 EU elections.

BOOK

The Progressive Compass

Next Left Vol. 16

By Maria Maltschnig, Eunice Goes, Andreas Schieder, Ania Skrzypek, Partick Diamond and more – In collaboration with Karl-Renner-Institut

 

The 16th volume from the Next Left research project, “The Progressive Compass” explores how social democratic parties in Europe can rebuild trust, respond to voter expectations, and shape a progressive future with concrete strategies to help social democrats regain credibility and electoral strength in political uncertainty and rising far-right influence.

The Progressive Compass
Listen to the podcast

PROGRESSIVE POLLSTERS PODCAST

“People still want change, but also stability and respectability”

With Kaisa Vatanen and Ania Skrzypek

 

🎧  Spotify | Apple Podcast | Website | Youtube

In this new episode of the Next Left Progressive Pollsters series, Kaisa Vatanen, Chief Officer at Datapraxisdiscusses:

  • Rising cost of living and its impact on voter priorities
  • The influence of international events, including the war in Ukraine, on European attitudes towards defence
  • The need for greater European cooperation
  • Potential pathways for progressive politics to connect with voters’ concerns

BOOK

100 years of progressive influence: Social Democracy in Canada

Next Left country case studies

By David McGrane and Clement Nocos – In collaboration with Karl-Renner-Institut

 

In light of the 2025 federal election and a newly minted Liberal leadership, the latest Next Left Country Case Study turns its lens on Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) and makes a compelling contribution to the story of the progressive influence of social democracy in Canada over the last one hundred years.

Next Left country case studies - Canada
Podcast
Listen to the podcast

FEPS TALKS PODCAST

The new American way

With James K. Galbraith and László Andor

 

🎧  Spotify | Apple Podcast | Website 

American economist James K. Galbraith (Professor at the University of Texas at Austin) shares his views about the dramatic changes in US politics and policy experienced since Trump’s inauguration.

 

In this conversation with FEPS Secretary General László Andor, he explores both internal and external factors driving the political changes of our time, which are also reshaping transatlantic relations.

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

Find all related Progressive Post
Progressive Post
02/07/2026

A pact: what else?

The entry into force of the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum on 12 June […]
02/07/2026

The EU Return Regulation: what lies behind the chants

The new EU ‘deportation bill’ was adopted by the European Parliament amid roaring applause, laughter […]
02/07/2026

Mind the gaps: implementing the pact’s screening and border procedures

The EU migration and asylum reforms became applicable on 12 June, but their impact and […]
Find all related Magazine
Magazine
  • cover book

    Issue #30 Progressive Post

Issue #30

A world of cracks: the new global disorder
  • cover book

    Issue #29 Progressive Post

Issue #29

Does peace still have a chance?
Find all related publications
Publications
13/07/2026

European populism and anti-gender narratives

Links between the EU and North Macedonia
13/07/2026

The international network of the radical right

Democracy under attack in the United States and Europe
03/07/2026

Renewing European progressive leadership in climate, energy and industry

Europe is living through a time of constant disruption: geopolitical and economic shocks, a cost-of-living […]
30/06/2026

How National and Regional Partnership Plans can support just transition regions in the next MFF

Policy recommendations
Find all related news
News
08/07/2026

Letter to Manfred Weber, Chair of the EPP Group, by FEPS President Nicolas Schmit 

Dear Mr Weber, You are European, but also German. One should be entitled to expect […]
23/06/2026

FEPS Reacts: 10 years after Brexit

Written by FEPS Secretary-General László Andor 🔸 Brexit has been a case study in national self-harm. The […]
05/06/2026

Call for a progressive EU enlargement

Friends of the Western Balkans' Joint Statement
13/04/2026

Hungary’s civic revolution

FEPS' commentary on the outcomes of the Hungarian election
Find all related in the media
In the media

Open letter to Manfred Weber

by Social Europe 13/07/2026
FEPS President Nicolas Schmit's open letter to EPP leader Manfred Weber on the Return Regulation was featured in Social Europe

Elon Musk não existiria na Europa, porque nunca teria recebido tanto dinheiro de um orçamento público como recebeu nos EUA

by Expresso 24/06/2026
FEPS President and former Commissioner Nicolas Schmit explains how social democrats can regain the trust of EU citizens

Diez años del Brexit: la metamorfosis del euroescepticismo

by La Razón 24/06/2026
"Ten years of Brexit: the metamorphosis of Euroscepticism". This article from La Razón mentions FEPS policy brief "Countering the far right in the European Parliament", which examines the growing normalisation of far-right parties within the EP and analyses how their strategy has shifted from rejecting the EU to reshaping it from within.

Encouraged by the rejection of the labor law, European progressives gathered in Porto acknowledge that Social Europe has a safe haven in Portugal.

by Expresso PT 22/06/2026
This Expresso article delves into the discussions at the high-level conference "Social Europe is our target", which put social rights back at the heart of the EU agenda.