Search

FEPS Newsletter 20 Jan 2025 – 🧭 Bringing back sense in the disorder

An eventful start to the new year – If you have problems displaying this email, […]
All Topics
Search topic

20/01/2026
An eventful start to the new year –

If you have problems displaying this email, follow this link

Happy (belated) New Year from FEPS team! We hope you had a restful winter break – it seems we’ll need all our energy for 2026.
 

While the emerging global (dis)order is unsettling, it also inspires Europeans to think about our sovereignty and identity. The “great unraveling” will have to be met with a new EU strategy, entailing the defence but also the further improvement of our political systems and social models. There is no way forward if we compromise on our core values: democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and – central to social democracy – social justice and solidarity.
 

To bring back sense in this disorder and to support progressives in Europe, FEPS remains dedicated to its mission to deliver solid analysis and informed political guidance.
Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule
Inflation preparedness in the EU
 

📅  29 JAN

📍  FEPS HQ

FEPS’ New Year Reception & Progressive Yearbook launch

Join us for FEPS’ traditional New Year Reception, which launches the seventh edition of the Progressive Yearbook, and unveils FEPS Progressive Person of the Year.
 

The New Year Reception will also mark the handover of the presidency from Maria João Rodrigues to Nicolas Schmit. Register now!

Past events

See all past events

12 JAN – VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Violence, trauma and health impacts in the EU

Panel discussion in the framework of the 12th Barbara Prammer Symposium

Organised by FEPS
 

In Vienna, this panel brought together experts from the health, political, and social sectors to examine the health impacts of gender-based violence and discuss how prevention, stronger legal frameworks, and gender-responsive, survivor-centred health systems can better respond to women’s needs across Europe.
Violence, trauma and health impacts in the EU
Publications
Moving beyond neoliberalism in EU trade policy

POLICY BRIEF

Moving beyond neoliberalism in EU trade policy

By Werner Raza and Bernhard Tröster 
 

Once seen as a driver of growth and stability, trade is increasingly about risk, power and resilience. Trade has become increasingly politicised, global markets are more fragmented and economic interdependence is less predictable.
 

As geopolitical uncertainty grows and economic pressures mount, choices about trade policy will shape the EU’s future growth model and its role in the world. The authors argue that the EU must fundamentally realign its trade strategy.

The policy brief is part of the Progressive Economic Network project, co-organised by FEPS, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Das Progressive Zentrum (DPZ). For this publication, the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA) joined as a partner.

POLICY BRIEF

Financing enlargement via the 2028-2034 MFF

By Federico Baccini
 

Enlargement is an increasingly pressing topic within the EU, amid Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia’s EU membership applications and a growing awareness of the risk of destabilisation in the Western Balkans if the EU does not demonstrate a genuine commitment to enlargement.
 

This policy brief addresses three topics:

  • What funding is dedicated to enlargement
  • Whether it is sufficient to meet the challenge
Financing enlargement via the 2028-2034 MFF
  • Whether the proposal adequately prepares the EU for the inclusion of new Member States
 

This policy brief is part of the Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB) project, organised by FEPS in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Dialogue Southeast Europe, Karl Renner Institut, Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, Fondation Jean-Jaurès, Foundation Max van der Stoel, Društvo Progresiva and Olof Palme International Center.
News
Venezuela is not about drugs: Trump’s Regional Expansionism and Europe’s Test
 

FEPS Commentary on US military intervention in Venezuela

By Beatriz Abellán
 

The recent US illegal military intervention in Venezuela violates international law, US internal law and Venezuelan sovereignty, while exposing Europe’s selective defence of international law, undermining its own credibility. Read more.

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Saulo Ferreira Angelo
Nicolas Schmit, FEPS President-elect, in Politico Brussels Playbook
 

Nicolas Schmit, FEPS President-elect, in POLITICO Brussels Playbook
 

Nicolas Schmit, FEPS President-elect, was featured in the POLITICO Brussels Playbook. He calls for stronger European solidarity and a more assertive EU stance to defend its digital rules – particularly in the face of US sanctions. Read more.

Photo credits: Politico
Progressive Post

PROGRESSIVE PAGE

FEPS in times of tectonic shifts 

With Nicolas Schmit, FEPS President-elect
 

What we used to consider to be the West may not exist anymore, as its fundamental values are brutally questioned by the Trump administration.
Listen to the podcast

Read Nicolas Schmit’s reading of the geopolitical changes in his first Progressive Page as FEPS President-elect. Read more.

Photo credits: Shutterstock / ro9drigo
Bulgaria’s Eurozone moment

PROGRESSIVE PAGE

Bulgaria’s Eurozone moment 

With Ivan Todorov, Researcher and lecturer in Economics at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Sofia
 

In January 2026, Bulgaria joined the Eurozone.

While scepticism exists, Bulgaria’s path to fairer development may refute the critics. It’s a chance to prove the EU delivers real results for its people. Read more.

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Mirko Kuzmanovic
 

Was this email forwarded to you?

Copyright © 2026 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
12/02/2026
Claes-Mikael STÅHL

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

Europe’s competitiveness debate is accelerating under a growing sense of urgency. Slowing growth, geopolitical rivalry […]
11/02/2026
Tommaso FACCIOJayati GHOSH

Ensuring tax justice in a fragile and unequal world economy

When a handful of economists met over a century ago in Geneva to deliver a […]
11/02/2026
Simona IAMMARINO

The elephant in the European room

Critical raw materials and open strategic autonomy
Find all related Magazine
Magazine
  • cover book

    # Issue 29 Progressive Post

# Issue 29

From the war in Ukraine to the devastation of Gaza since 2023, the words ‘war’ […]
COP EU budget EU Defence Global peace
  • cover book

    # Issue 28 Progressive Post

# Issue 28

European Social Democracy at historical crossroads
BRICS Education LGBTIQ+ Social Democracy
  • cover book

    #Issue 27 Progressive Post

#Issue 27

The EU in uncharted waters
Find all related publications
Publications
See all
29/01/2026
Book

Progressive Yearbook 2026

In an eerie manner, 2025 resembled the ‘time of monsters’, which, according to the great […]
15/01/2026
Policy Brief

Financing enlargement via the 2028-2034 MFF

This brief intends to explain how the European Commission’s proposal for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial […]
19/12/2025
Policy Brief

Moving beyond neoliberalism in EU trade policy

European Union trade policy finds itself at a crossroads. After three decades of neoliberal dominance in the […]
15/12/2025
Book

The great unravelling

“The great unravelling” examines the challenges that the new era of globalisation poses for progressive […]
Find all related news
News
See all
29/01/2026

Maria João Rodrigues departs from FEPS Presidency, transitions to Nicolas Schmit

After completing eight years in the role, Maria Joâo Rodrigues has departed the role of […]
29/01/2026

Marianna Mazzucato awarded FEPS ‘Progressive Person of the Year’

FEPS Progressive Person of the Year 2025-2026
21/01/2026

Call for tender – HR consulting services

Applications to be submitted before 18 February
06/01/2026

Venezuela is not about drugs: Trump’s Regional Expansionism and Europe’s Test

FEPS Commentary on US military intervention in Venezuela
Find all related in the media
In the media
See all

España los forma, Europa los contrata: así es el mapa de la nueva fuga de cerebros

by El Confidencial 10/02/2026
Spain trains them, Europe hires them: the map of the new brain drain: 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.

Von der Leyen’s management style ‘not good for Europe,’ says ex-commissioner

by POLITICO 02/02/2026
In this article published by POLITICO, FEPS New President Nicolas Schmit raises concerns about the Commission’s long-term vision and strategic planning, while noting its limited response to U.S. sanctions against Thierry Breton.

‘Regreso al futuro. El gran reseteo’ by Lina Gálvez

by Tinta Libre 02/02/2026
“Back to the Future: The Great Reset” Opinion article by FEPS Vice-President, Lina Gálvez reflecting on the current global crisis marked by rising authoritarianism, digital power and extreme inequality, and tracing its roots through a historical analysis of capitalism — from the post-1945 social and geopolitical settlement led by social democratic forces, through neoliberal financialisation, to what she describes as a new phase of fascist capitalism.

Luxembourg’s former EU Commissioner appointed to head Brussels think tank

by Luxembourg Times 30/01/2026
The Luxembourg Times covered the nomination of former European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit as President of FEPS.