Forging the new EU agenda

Policy Brief

As we enter a new EU legislative term, the stakes are high for Europe to step up and secure a strong and resilient economy that is able to deliver an inclusive and sustainable future. This publication, born out of a collaboration between progressive organisations, trade unions and the social-democratic movement, lays out essential policy insights to inform and inspire the emerging EU agenda for socio-economic development. It builds on background briefings to the Progressive Economic Policy Conference that FEPS and FES, in cooperation with the ETUC and the S&D Group, organised in Brussels on 25 and 26 September 2024.

We identify and discuss progressive policy recommendations for three priority areas:

(1) strengthening Europe’s socio- economic model, focusing on the European Social Agenda and the future of the EU’s finances;

(2) industrial policy for full-capacity Europe, focusing on the tools to deliver on the climate and digital transition and the need to foster territorial cohesion;

(3) global and sustainable Europe, focusing on new role of trade policy and international partnerships for sustainable supply chains and competitiveness.

The challenge will be to translate of progressives’ priorities into real policy change as possible, by making the most of the limited but nonetheless considerable resources and opportunities available to progressives in the new legislature. We encourage policymakers, stakeholders and citizens interested in a progressive Europe to engage with the ideas presented herein and find ways of turning them into reality in the challenging policymaking context we face over the next years.

Some of these ideas were presented at the ‘Forging the new EU agenda‘ event.