Ania SKRZYPEK

Director for Research and Training

It is with pride that we call ourselves the European progressives. It prompts us to reflect on the movement’s grandest traditions, the inspiring legacy that previous generations have endowed us with, and the significant historical crossroads that the Union has navigated due to the steadfast political perseverance of our representatives.

We understand where we come from, we know why we joined, and we recognise the values that drive us. And while it gives us strength and makes us stand firmly amid the challenges and against the popular trends of these times, perhaps far too frequently, we let this lead us to a position in which we feel that we must defend ourselves, our issues and our achievements. And here is a thought to ponder – being true to our political bequest should not be about shielding the past. No, it should be about preserving it by perpetually reaching for more.

So, while we hear all the claims about the European way of life being under threat, about the crisis of the Western world and the EU making concessions under external pressure, this is the moment like no other to dare talk about another Europe. One that will be progressive, will outlast our generation and will deliver on the aspirations of the next ones. It is the moment to get the audacity to trust ourselves and ask for the voters’ trust that Social Democrats are still there, on the side of social justice and progress. And this is what this moment, when we mobilise to come together, should be about. 

The politics have changed

There is nothing infantile in being idealistic here, and nothing incriminating in imagining that the movement could emancipate itself in its thinking beyond the limits of the current political map, the composition of institutions, and approval rates. The political systems have indeed evolved. Following the years of professionalisation and mediatisation, which left many to see the political parties as resembling one another, came a period of counterreaction. The resentment towards the establishment, the political elites, and the traditional parties paved the way for the rise of protest politics – following which what used to be at the fringes entered forcefully into the political arena, and in some cases even took centre stage.

The fragmented landscape, the radicalisation and the polarisation impacted the rules to conduct politics, which became a brutal spectacle marked by confrontation. Neither of the levels from the local to the European and global are exempt from that. Progressives may ring alarm bells that this will destroy democracy, but in the end of the day, today’s system stands for many as something that does not work for them. Defending it with the language of the reform and excuse regarding the complexity of the contemporary is not good enough and stands out as oddly minimalistic if compared to the magnitude of the global unravelling or the tone set by MAGA.

The instinctive reaction thus far has been to study the causes of the popularity of the right-wing extreme. But the truth is that, particularly the radical right organisations, never cease to surprise and shock, moving from one incredible to another impossible. That, alongside the loud and unashamed narrative, gives them a clear advantage and drives political conversation into fields where evidence-based, complex answers do not stand a chance to compete. Progressives tried to counteract, to ridicule, to threaten with doomsday scenarios. If anything, this was only the grist to their opponents’ mill. 

… so it is time to change the gear

It is high time to change the gear. The focus must shift to the future that Social Democrats can envision building, namely a Europe that offers hope and prospects, one that stands by the idea of a peaceful world it wants to co-shape and the cooperation that ensures progress for all. In the circumstances of still-fresh post-war wounds in the 1950s and 1960s, it was possible to rise above everyday hardship and offer a bold scenario that would engage first just a few, but then, in the course of history, emancipate and empower many. In the 1970s, it was possible to alter the integrational trajectory, necessitating a new dimension that united Social Democrats behind the project of Social Europe. That is all, nonetheless, amid the consolidation of neoliberal hegemony. In the 1990s, it was possible to think about the united continent that would deliver on a new promise – full employment – labelled then by the Party of European Socialists (PES) as ‘a United Europe that works’.

And finally, just after the upheaval of the failed attempt at the Constitutional Treaty for Europe, progressives rejected the claims of the existential crisis. And although themselves under growing electoral pressure, they had the needed audacity to propose a New Social Europe project, which foresaw and cautioned against the perils of financial capitalism, instead putting the PES ahead of the political curve. So why doubt today in the power and magnetism of progressive thought?

Indeed, what if progressives risked trimming down the lengthy list of issues, which certainly provides proof of the political orientation, but at the same time fragments the proposal, creating the impression that by trying to own so many issues, the movement does not have primacy on any of them in reality? What if the overwhelming degree of complexity and details, which many have grown used to and remain convinced that it makes them appear proficient, prolific and predictable, were to be tuned down? What if the centre-left strategised embracing an idea that citizens are disenchanted by the transactional approach to politics and its limitations in the turbulent times, but it does not make them any less susceptible to following values and a need to belong to a greater common project? In other words, what if the progressives were, again pioneers – this time of making European politics a space for grand, inspiring ideas? 

Thinking ahead is what is needed now to escape the defensive modus of perpetual ‘respondism’, which often causes the movement to lag. And politics is far too often the slowest and most pervasive phenomenon in people’s lives. This is a historical turning point, and it calls for a new European doctrine. If progressives find it in themselves to dare dream, there is nothing that prevents them from indeed mobilising around the project that, in turn, will excite them, will make them think and reach impossible, and in turn will make them the ones to define the course further on.

Photo credits: AI-generated by Gemini