FEPS Weekly Newsletter 18 Nov 2022

21 November – Barcelona, Spain

This public conference in Barcelona by FEPS and the Rafael Campalans Foundation will analyse the Twin Transition from both a global and a local perspective.

The event is composed of two panels:

• The first launches the Policy Study by FEPS and United Nations University “The EU and Northern Africa: together towards a Twin Transition?”. It will take a deep dive into the EU’s green and digital policies vis-à-vis North Africa: has the EU been able to unite the two successfully? And what about Northern Africa? Is there an alignment and tangible impact that is necessary to tackle the global problem of climate change?
• The second panel will instead zoom in on the local level: (smart) cities. The conference capitalises on the political momentum of the Smart City Expo, taking place in Barcelona.

21 November – Madrid, Spain

On Monday, 21 November, FEPS, together with ThinkYoung and the Felipe González Foundation will present the report ‘Builders of Progress: Europe’s NextGen’ in Madrid. The report reveals the political views of Millennials and Generation Z in 11 European countries. It is based on the most comprehensive survey on the subject, collecting 19,000 responses from young Europeans aged 16-38.

During the event, we will explore the many topics covered in the report, as well as an accompanying factsheet summarising the study’s key findings on Spain.

Implications for US democracy, the EU, and global politics

16 November – Brussels, Belgium

The US mid-term elections that took place on November 8 are crucial to define the state of democracy in the US, its influence and ability to shape international politics.

In the context of rising polarisation, how to interpret the outcome of the mid-term elections, and what are the implications for US internal politics and external relations?

To analyse this, FEPS and the German Marshall Fund (GMF) brought together leading European and US experts and policymakers at the State of the Unions conference, a platform to promote better coordination and collaboration between the transatlantic partners.

📺 Watch our speaker’s comments on the U.S mid-terms election here.
📸 Check the Flickr album of the event.
🧵 Read the State of the Unions Twitter thread.

21 November – Brussels, Belgium

The Next Left Lecture and strategic colloquium are the new features of one of the longest-existing FEPS initiatives, the Next Left Research Programme. The latter has been run since 2009 with the support of Renner Institute and many other FEPS members, with the same ambition to contribute to progressive thinking, propose innovative paths, and help reinforcement of social democrats on the local, regional, and national, European and global levels.

By Dominic Afscharian and Marius S. Ostrowski

From 11 May to 6 July 2021, the Progressive Alliance hosted four regional expert exchanges among a number of high-level political stakeholders, focused on Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. These exchanges dealt with key questions around how best to foster resilient democracies in the 21st century.

This policy study summarises the essential takeaways from these exchanges. It analyses the main concerns, as expressed in response to the several guiding questions. It formulates a number of recommendations that progressive democrats around the world should engage with in order to be better prepared for both current and future global challenges to democratic systems. Read more

A FEPS delegation was present at COP27, with the strategic objectives of mobilizing climate finance for a global just transition.

This year the conference of the parties was animated by a fear of back-sliding regarding the 1.5-degree target outlined in the Paris Agreement, and an increased presence of oil and gas lobbyists by over 25%. Meanwhile, it has been ascertained by a new Oxfam report that landmass five times the size of India would be required for reforestation to keep abreast of current climate targets.

“We do not have the necessary climate strategy to face the problem”, she reminded the audience at FEPS side event. “There are three priorities that emerge from this discourse: establish a global budgetary policy; outline a global taxation solution; scrapping subsidies on fossil fuels and deepening discussions on global taxonomy to steer financing in the right direction.” Read more

📺 Watch FEPS side event here
🧵 Read the Twitter thread

▶️ Maria João Rodrigues video message from COP27

Challenges of the green and digital transitions

elEconomista