Renaissance for Europe initiative was born out of intellectual and political desire to open a new chapter of a conversation about the future of the Union. The upcoming national elections in the three founding states of the EU – France, Italy and Germany – seemed a window of opportunity to reach beyond a discourse on crisis and decline. A motivation to deliberate upon an alternative scenario and propose a progressive way forward for Europe translated. The project under the auspices of the FEPS President, Massimo D’Alema and with the support of Fondation Jean Jaurès, Italiani Europei and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung featured conferences in Paris, Turino and Leipzig. The text below was drafted as a record of provoking thoughts that these exchanges inspired.
The recent decade has witnessed a deterioration of the Europe that came together while fulfilling a promise of a post-war generation. Though memories of the cataclysm of 1939 – 1945 have been most vivid at the beginning – the real motivation was not just a fear to prevent the story repeating itself. No more wars, no more poverty and hunger, no more some against others – those notions may have brought states, societies and individuals together, however what has kept them united has been an idea that jointly they can make a new history. Altogether they could fulfil dreams of long lasting peace, overall prosperity and democracy. This vision has been meaningful and worth fighting for – always and forever, despite all the challenges, detours and predicaments.
The progressive family has always strived for a political Union that puts people first. The initial scepticism of many parties versus an initiative that was initially driven by an economic cooperation has become this political movement’s inspiration to develop an alternative proposal. Common market and tighter industrial relations would not be enough, they decided. This became a promise of a Social Europe – which would carry a promise that benefits of the Union would first and foremost serve improving working and living conditions of the citizens. They, being the members of herewith created polity, would be the ones to have a decisive say about the future of the Community and this was why the idea of establishing direct European elections was so important.
The successful achievements of the past sixty years are undeniable. But this does not stop the contemporary to ask the existential question what is the sense of Europe today. The Treaty ofMaastricht that was to empower citizens and deepen the European democracy brought on the Union an imbalanced construction. The uncompleted Monetary Union with insufficient tools for Europe to react became its liability in times of crisis. The Growth and Stability Pact imposed requirements, while not being supported with strategies that would assist all the members to comply with the expectations. Though the lisbon Strategy was a beacon of hope in terms of transforming the labour market and herewith also adapt the European Social Model, it did not live up to witness the fulfilment of the ambitious commitments that had been made then. Finally, the Constitutional Treaty, which was to voice people’s vision of Europe of the new millennium, was rejected by the citizens of the two founding member states. Though it is hard to believe that with so many brave ideas, the results can be so discouraging – the case still is that the reoccurring question across the continent seems to echo a sentiment of disbelief: “do we really need this Europe? And what for?”
The progressive response to those queries remains a decisive one. yes, we need Europe – but not this Europe. The ruling centre-right has been consequently and forcefully decomposing the communitarian sphere in order to give ways to their Europe of nations. It results in an image that the Union is not more than a loose confederation of states, among which one member assumes leadership in trying to satisfy anticipated demands of the markets. But such a Europe does not work – neither figuratively nor literally. The demand for an alternative is real and can be heard on the streets, in unemployment offices and in queues for social security assistance.
Renaissance for Europe was a response to those calls, while trying to place the answer in a political context. The circumstances gave a hope that with the changing climate there would be a chance not only to argue for a change, but also to fulfil hopes for one – while winning the elections and returning to governing. For the symbolic and historical reasons to show that a new beginning is possible at the source of already existing initiative, the focus was on the three founding member states of France, Italy and Germany. Politicians, academics and experts gathered together in Paris, Turin and leipzig with an aim to go beyond more common technical debates on Europe. The objective was to reach further than analysis of the crisis and to break out of the confinement of the existing discourse. Renaissance for Europe was about retrieving sense of solidarity in order to push together the limits of political imagination and mobilise political courage to articulate bold proposals. Here below is a record of 10 provoking thoughts that these debates inspired.
Read the 10 provoking thoughts drafted by Dr Ania Skrzypek FEPS senior Research fellow
Leaders Must Choose a Just Energy Transition and a Social Europe
by Euractiv 30/05/2022
The circular economy and green jobs
by ENCOMPASS 25/05/2022
Da Prodi a Rodrigues, domani al via la ’Terza conferenza sul futuro dell’Europa’
by La Nazione 25/05/2022
Visioni e strategie per disegnare il futuro europeo
by La Nazione 23/05/2022
XWe use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”,
you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent. Read MoreREJECTACCEPTCookie settings
Manage consent
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
csrftoken
past
This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
JSESSIONID
session
The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
S
1 hour
Used by Yahoo to provide ads, content or analytics.
sp_landing
1 day
The sp_landing is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
sp_t
1 year
The sp_t cookie is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
iutk
session
This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products.
s_vi
2 years
An Adobe Analytics cookie that uses a unique visitor ID time/date stamp to identify a unique vistor to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
NID
6 months
NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.