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FEPS Newsletter 8 Dec 2023 – Digital Europe, Just Transition, Rise of far-right, Youth…

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08/12/2023
📅 FEPS Newsletter: Digital Europe, Just Transition, Rise of far-right, Youth…
What a week!
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Upcoming Events
What a week! Progressives are actively shaping their agenda for the future, and FEPS has been at the forefront, driving engaging debates and co-hosting key conferences on the pressing issues of our time, such as shaping the EU’s digital agenda, navigating the Just Transition or addressing the rise of the far-right.

But the journey continues, stay tuned!
PAST EVENT
Will the EU once again accept Big Tech’s power as a fait accompli while belatedly trying to mitigate risks, or can it chart a different course?

FEPS and FES co-organised an evening of debates on Europe’s digital future. There were keynotes by Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights; Evgeny Morozov, founder of The Syllabus; and Valeria Pulignano, Professor in Sociology at the Centre for Sociological Research. Read more.

📹You couldn’t attend? No worries, a video and more pictures will be available soon, stay tuned! You can also check out the Twitter thread to get a glimpse of some of the highlights.
Twitter
Pictures
PAST EVENT
30 high-level digital experts from the world of policy, academia, trade unions and civil society gathered at the European Parliament to discuss how we can shape Europe’s digital model in an event co-organised by FEPS and the S&D Group.

📺 You couldn’t attend? The first panels of this event are available! You can also find some of the event’s highlights in this Twitter thread! 📰And read the article ‘Towards Sovereign AI: Europe´s greatest challenge?‘, by Francesca Bria, one of the speakers.

Among the main takeaways: We must protect the European social model from the platformisation of the labour market, which threatens to undercut workers’ rights. A European approach to the digital transition must move from the dominant Silicon Valley tools towards a European stack that includes public digital infrastructure. Public services can benefit from digitalisation and data-driven solutions, but they should not do that with the private Big Tech solution. It requires the EU to move beyond regulating tech and to invest in the digital commons ecosystem to provide open-source alternatives for the infrastructure on which public services can base their tools. Read more.
Twitter
Pictures
PAST MEETING
6 December – FEPS HQ

Michael Obersteiner, from the Environmental Change Institute of University of Oxford, and Milan Petit, SEER Project Lead, presented our upcoming research detailing a systems change approach for linking the Green Deal Industrial Plan to Labour Policy interventions. This expert meeting was organised with CEE Bankwatch Network and FES.

The research indicates that the effects of the green transition in the labour market will be felt locally, should be dealt with regionally, and solved inter-regionally. Green transition policies can alleviate but not solve socio-economic challenges, and social policies can accelerate green transition. This was followed by inputs from Miloslawa Stephien, Joanna Jakubowska, and Dan Dobre, on the implementation of Territorial Just Transition Plans, stressing that a lot remains to be done to build local capacities that deliver on Just Transition.
Pictures
More info
4-5 December – Brussels

How do we promote democracy in the workplace? Are there lessons in Biden’s economics for the European Progressives? What are the benchmarks of progress?

Those questions, among many others, were at the centre of this two-day seminar, which was an integral part of the Next Left Research Programme launched in 2009, with the support of the Karl-Renner-Institut. This fourth and final session of the year discussed the articles that will feed into vol. 15 of the Next Left book series. FEPS Next Left Focus Group’s members engaged in discussions with influential figures such as Andreas Schieder, MEP and Head of the SPO EP Delegation; László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, and MEPs Matthias Ecke, Joao Albuquerque, Brando Benifei, Matjaž Nemec, and Marek Belka.
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More info
1-2 December – Stockholm, Sweden

Ahead of a crucial election year in 2024, progressives across Europe and North America face a common challenge: pressure from the far-right. In responding, progressives must not be seen as compromising on their aims of creating a just, democratic and sustainable society. Instead, they must find forward-looking responses and a narrative to spread hope and a positive vision of Europe’s future.

FEPS, in collaboration with Das Progressive Zentrum, FES, the Global Progress, and the Centre for American Progress, convened progressive decision-makers, activists, as well as leading and up-and-coming academics to develop a shared understanding and common solutions for responding to the far-right. Read more.
Twitter
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UPCOMING EVENT
Join us for the presentation of the upcoming report ‘Youth Support for Democracy in Spain: Democracy in the Face of Disadvantage’, which analyses the attitudes of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds towards democracy.

This report is produced by FEPS in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Felipe González Foundation. It is part of the FEPS series ‘Builders of Progress‘, which analyses young Europeans’ main concerns and aspirations. The event will be held in Spanish.

For those who cannot join us in Madrid, don’t worry! We’ll present the full policy study in Brussels on 23 January.
More info
POLICY BRIEF
By Francesca Caruso

In 2023, the Sahel crisis entered its twelfth year, assuming a new, worrying dimension. While the EU adopted an integrated Strategy for the region in 2021, Brussels is still insufficiently prepared to respond to this new dimension of the crisis. Yet, the Sahel region continues to be strategically crucial for the EU.

In this third publication of the ’12 years of crises in the Sahel’ series, Francesca Caruso highlights policy recommendations for a coordinated EU foreign and security policy towards the region. Read more.

The climate emergency is clear. 2023 will be the warmest year on record, with fires, draughts and extreme phenomena all over the globe.

As part of the COP28 campaign by the Party of European Socialists, in this video message, FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues urges the richest countries to support developing countries by putting the loss and damage fund into action.
Watch the video
By László Andor and Tom Theuns

Dive into the insightful analysis published in IPS Journal by Tom Theuns, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, and László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, examining the Dutch election results. Read more.
EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE OBSERVATORY
The Dutch voters out on an electoral hike

Since the exit polls were announced, there has been an avalanche of comments regarding the ‘shocking’ outcome, one which has also been called ‘the biggest political disruption’ in the post-war period. Indeed, the Party of Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders finished first, with almost 24% of the votes, and 37 of 150 seats in the Tweede Kamer, and the Groen-Links-PvdA ended second, with a score of 16% and 25 seats.

With these results, it will be very hard for Geert Wilders to build anything else than a minority government. But whatever government will be formed, there are lessons and conclusions to be drawn – indispensable to understanding both the long-term trends and the issues that underpinned such a large swing in the campaign’s final days.
📚 Read more.
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