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FEPS Newsletter 8 June 2026 – 🤖 Uncontrolled AI is a danger

Protecting democracy from AI dictatorship – If you have problems displaying this email, follow this […]
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08/06/2026
Protecting democracy from AI dictatorship –

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Algorithms & AI

The promise of AI is real, but so are its consequences, such as bias, opacity, and concentration of power to a handful of tech elites. From the classroom to the public sector, algorithms are reshaping childhoods and restructuring economies, and thereby quietly eroding the rules of democratic governance. Progressives must stop treating regulation as a burden and start using it as a tool: because only strong democratic oversight can ensure that AI serves people, not profit.
The open future and its enemies

BOOK

The open future and its enemies

How we can protect free society from AI dictatorship
 

A robust democracy must not leave the future in the hands of the alliance between Big Tech and the far right. AI must be politically reined in and democratically shaped so that humanity retains its sovereignty.
 

Launched at the Global Progressive Mobilisation in Barcelona, the book argues that uncontrolled AI will erode our freedom, self-determination and democracy.

DOSSIER

The red queen’s race

Without checks and regulations, AI risks undermining everything we care for
 

AI advances faster than our ability to understand it. Left unchecked, it can undermine human development and democracy.
The red queen's race

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Summit Art Creations
Digital minimum age: The ban and beyond

17 APRIL – BARCELONA, SPAIN

Digital minimum age: The ban and beyond

Panel at the Global Progressive Mobilisation
 

How can we ensure that digital minimum age goes beyond merely a ban?
 

Considering initiatives announced in Australia, Denmark, Spain, Germany and France to introduce a minimum digital age for social media, the discussion should move beyond the binary question of “ban or not to ban”. 

It should instead explore which supporting measures are needed, while anticipating the unintended consequences of minimum age laws, such as exclusion, privacy risks, regulatory fragmentation, and, most crucially, democratic engagement. 

29 APRIL – BERLIN, GERMANY

AI in the public sector – Lessons from the Nordic countries

By FEPS, in collaboration with FES Nordic countries, and Nordic think tanks and trade unions 
 

What are the potential biases, discriminatory effects, and other harmful outcomes of the use of AI? Drawing on real-world examples, this roundtable identified strategies to mitigate risks and find ways to implement AI responsibly – in the Nordics, Germany, the EU and beyond.  

Photo credits: FES Nordics
AI in the public sector – Lessons from the Nordic countries
Events

Upcoming events

See full schedule
Social Europe is our target
 

📅  19 JUNE

📍 PORTO, PORTUGAL

UPCOMING EVENT

Social Europe is our target
 

Join us in Porto or online at the event “Social Europe is our target” to put social rights back at the heart of the EU!
 

This high-level conference will feature contributions from European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Minzatu, FEPS President Nicolas Schmit, PS Secretary General José Luís Carneiro, MEPs Estelle Ceulemans and Gabriele Bischoff, former EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira and former Eurogroup President Mário Centeno, as well as other policymakers and experts, to mark the 5th anniversary of the Porto Social Summit – Register now!

Past events

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29-30 MAY – NICOSIA, CYPRUS

A progressive strategy for peace and cooperation in the Mediterranean

Call to Europe – Cyprus
 

Taking place in the context of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the latest edition of FEPS’ flagship event Call to Europe addressed:
 
  • Implications of the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East for the Mediterranean region
  • European and SWANA countries in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
A progressive strategy for peace and cooperation in the Mediterranean
  • The Pact for The Mediterranean
  • Energy justice and the green transition
  • Externalisation and securisation in EU migration policy and implications for the Mediterranean countries
  • Democratic resilience in North Africa
 

By FEPS, organised in cooperation with the S&D Group, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cyprus, Eteron, Fundación Avanza, Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, Fondation Jean Jaurès and EDEK.
Progressive Migration Group – Addis Ababa

21-22 MAY – ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

Progressive Migration Group – Addis Ababa

By FEPS, in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and FES African Migration Policy Centre
 

Labour migration cooperation needs a progressive approach.
 

During this meeting, the Progressive Migration Group:
  • analysed the potential impact of the Multiannual Financial Framework on migration management and African countries
  • reflected on the outcomes of the recent International Migration Review Forum (IMRF)
  • Reviewed existing bilateral labour migration agreements between European and African countries and explored what they mean for expanding legal pathways
  • Examined the tensions between Europe’s migration priorities and Africa’s ambitions for continental integration and free movement

20 MAY – ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE, LUXEMBOURG

Housing in practice – Luxembourg

Developing sustainable housing and land-use strategies

By FEPS, in collaboration with Robert Krieps Foundation
 

Across the EU, housing affordability has risen to the top of the political agenda. However, the successful delivery of the EU affordable housing Plan will largely rely on innovative ideas to expand housing supply, mobilise investment, balance immediate needs with structural reforms, and support the most vulnerable. 
Housing in practice – Luxembourg

For all this, understanding the territorial realities and working with local and regional actors will be key. This first event of FEPS’ “Housing in practice” series focused more particularly on the situation in Luxembourg. 
Progressive Post
Fragmentation around the Mediterranean

Photo credits: Shutterstock / Hairem

DOSSIER

The crowded sea

Fragmentation around the Mediterranean
 

In a new geopolitical sea, is the EU truly willing to deploy the necessary resources to become a meaningful actor in the Mediterranean?

PROGRESSIVE PAGE

All far from quiet on the Eastern front

By Ania Skrzypek, Director for Research and Training
All far from quiet on the Eastern front

The sense of Eastern discomfort the progressive family noted after the last EU elections is slowly transforming into the realisation of a disaster… But is the situation really that bad? Read more.

Photo credits:  Shutterstock / Belish
 

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Frågan om jämställdhet splittrar unga svenskar

by dagens arena 29/10/2026
"The issue of gender equality divides young Swedes" - FEPS Policy Analyst on Democracy Matteo Dressler discusses the findings of the EqualiZe policy study in the Swedish context.

Brazil’s Lula survives Bolsonaro scare, safeguarding EU democratic ally on climate and trade

by EUobserver 26/10/2026
Read EUobserver's analysis of what comes next after Brazil's elections, which includes comments from Thainá Leite, Project Coordinator at FEPS

Франција е Франција – но Франција е и Европа

by Racin.mk 21/10/2026
“France is France – but France is also Europe.” In an opinion piece for Racin.mk, László Andor, Secretary General of FEPS, argues that France’s youth protests, set against a latent budget crisis and growing precarity (schools, housing), risk benefiting Marine Le Pen, and that France, despite bending the EU’s fiscal rules, has also propped up European growth.

La Regina, il problema dei divari territoriali è una questione europea

by Regione Basilicata 22/09/2026
“La Regina: territorial disparities are a European issue” News article published by ANSA (IT), featuring Raffaele La Regina, participant in the FEPS Young Academics Network, discussing territorial and social inequalities across Europe, the need to reconcile competitiveness and cohesion, and the role of European cohesion policy, industrial policy and investment in ensuring that no region is left behind.