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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, […]
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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
 

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“Talking with the enemy” – POLITICO Brussels Playbook, January 13

by POLITICO 13/01/2026
Read Nicolas Schmit, FEPS President-elect, 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.

Liberal democracy’s social, societal fabric under threat – Live from the EPC Annual Conference 2025

by EPC 08/12/2025
In a podcast by the European Policy Centre (EPC), FEPS Secretary General, László Andor, discusses how liberal democracy in Europe is being challenged not only at the institutional level but also through the erosion of social rights and what Europe must do to defend its social foundations.

« 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