FEPS

17/06/2026

🇵🇹 LAST DAY TO REGISTER for the conference "Social Europe is our target"! Join in Porto or online VP Roxana Mînzatu and other policymakers and experts to put social rights back at the heart of the EU! Find out more.
👉 https://bit.ly/SocialEuropeisourTarget

This high-level conference will feature contributions from key European policymakers, including European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, 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, among many others.

The EU seems to have shifted its economic and social agenda to increasingly mirror a US-style competitiveness agenda, cherry-picking recommendations from the Draghi Report, despite key initiatives such as the Anti-Poverty Strategy, the upcoming Quality Jobs Act, and the Fair Labour Mobility package. With a fifth of the EU population at risk of poverty or exclusion, including millions of children, precarious working conditions in the face of the green and digital transition, demographic change and economic austerity measures across Member States, a new European Economic Social Agenda is needed to deliver concretely on the principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

The current geopolitical landscape has directed attention towards defence spending and militarisation at the expense of social investment, while wars have direct consequences on the cost of living for millions of people.

Speakers include:
🔸 Roxana Mînzatu, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights, Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness
🔸 José Luís Carneiro, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Portugal
🔸 Nicolas Schmit, President, FEPS
🔸 Mário Centeno, Former Minister of Finance, Portugal, former Governor of the Bank of Portugal, former President of the Eurogroup
🔸 Estelle Ceulemans, Member of the European Parliament, Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament
🔸 Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament, S&D Group and Chair of the PES Social Europe Network (online)
🔸 Stefan Löfven, President, Party of European Socialists (online)
🔸 Elisa Ferreira, Former European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, former Vice-Governor of the Bank of Portugal
🔸 Ludovic Voet, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
🔸 László Andor, Secretary General, FEPS
🔸 Marta Iglesias, Member of SOLIDAR’s Board and Director of Strategy and Advocacy at Movement for Peace (MPDL)
🔸 Mónica Vidal, Built Environment Manager, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe (online)
🔸 Erica Acosta, Advocate, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa
🔸 Sophia Reisecker, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
🔸 Ana Mendes Godinho, Former Minister of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, Portugal (online)
🔸 José António Vieira da Silva, Former Minister of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, Portugal, Special Adviser to the European Commission for the Porto Social Summit
🔸 Maria Helena André, Former Deputy Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation, former Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities, former Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, Portugal
🔸 Pedro Silva Pereira, President, Fundação Res Publica
🔸 Valeska Hesse, Director, FES Spain and Portugal
🔸 João Albuquerque, Director for International Relations, Fundação Res Publica
🔸 Fabian Schmiedel, Head of Office, FES Portugal
🔸 François Balate, Policy Analyst, FEPS
🔸 Carlos Roldan, Social Policy Coordinator, SOLIDAR

Let’s stop trying to sell and put social rights back at the heart of the EU. Five years after the Porto Social Summit and the adoption of the Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), it is time to revive the spirit of Porto!

🤝 By FEPS, in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Portugal, the Fundação Res Publica, SOLIDAR, the Johannes Mihkelsoni Keskus and Proforum.

16/06/2026

🌍♀️ Members of the Feminist Foreign Policy Progressive Voices Collective met online to build on the outcomes of the 5th FFP Ministerial Conference held in Madrid and prepare inputs for the next EU Action Plan on WPS. Find out more!
➡️ https://bit.ly/FFPPVC_260612

📣 FEPS President Nicolas Schmit opened the session with a call to raise our voices to defend , including reproductive rights, and to ensure women's meaningful participation in international politics.

Co-chairs Ann Linde and Machris Cabreros, along with other participants in the Ministerial Conference stressed the need for governments to put in place concrete tools and resources to implement strategies.

The discussion then turned to the upcoming EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security ( ), with contributions from across the group, notably from:
🔸 Yuliya Yurchenko, Senior Lecturer at the University of Greenwich, proposed recommendations for gender informed reconstruction in Ukraine, placing care work at the centre and advocating for strong labour institutions
🔸 Annika Bergman Rosamond, Associate Professor of International Relations and Gender and affiliated researcher at Lund University and The University of Edinburgh, emphasised the need for a more intersectional approach in EU foreign and security policies.

More broadly, the Collective exchanged insights to advance in Europe and globally.

This event was part of the Feminist Foreign Policy Progressive Voices Collective ( ). This collective, led by FEPS in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | EU Office, questions traditional approaches to foreign policy to enable an alternative account of foreign relations from the standpoint of the most disadvantaged.

💡 The project aims to advance concrete policy recommendations and build on a multi-stakeholder feminist foreign policy community that gathers feminist policy experts.
ℹ️ https://feps-europe.eu/theme/feminist-foreign-policy/

🤝 With Fondation Jean Jaurès, Istituto Affari Internazionali - IAI, Olof Palmes Internationella Center, Fundación Pablo Iglesias, TASC - Think-Tank for Action on Social Change, Fabian Society, Inštitut 1. maj, CEE Gender Network, PEFAL, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender in Geopolitics Institute, IPPF European Network, Equipop, SOLIDAR and Das Progressive Zentrum

15/06/2026

🇪🇺 🇺🇸 In the European Parliament, hosted by Katarina Barley MEP, FEPS held a discussion on the implications of the upcoming US 2026 elections and how the EU can learn from those working to defend US democracy. Find out more 👇
https://bit.ly/AheadUSMidterms

Cas Mudde, one of the world’s leading scholars on the far right and on populism, delivered a keynote on the causes and current state of democratic backsliding in the United States, the modes of resistance and resilience that have proven effective (and those that have not), and the lessons for Europe’s defence of liberal democracy against far-right pressure.

Ana Catarina Mendes MEP also shared insights from the EU perspective.

The roundtable discussed questions, including:
♦️What is the state of US democracy under a 2nd Trump administration?
♦️ Where is resistance from the Democratic Party as well as from activists and NGOs working, where is it failing
♦️ What can European progressives genuinely learn from those approaches?

Some of the key takeaways from the discussion were:
1️⃣ Institutional safeguards only hold if people actively choose to defend them. Rules don't enforce themselves.
2️⃣ Defend the rules of the game for their own sake. Institutional reform should protect democracy and keep the system fair, not advantage whoever happens to be in power.
3️⃣ Dare to be ideological. Progressives stand for something, a fairer, more equal society, and shouldn't be afraid to say so clearly. A confident, values-driven worldview beats a defensive or borrowed one.
4️⃣ Know your coalition. Energy spent chasing voters who were never reachable comes at the expense of those who genuinely can be, including a young generation that increasingly leans progressive.
5️⃣ Make it personal. Abstract policy rarely moves people; the human stories behind an issue do.

📕FEPS has been continuously working to create dedicated spaces for substantive discussion on protecting and renewing democracy, with a focus both on analysing far-right parties and movements and, crucially, on developing progressive strategies that are not merely reactive but genuinely proactive.

Find out more about FEPS’ work, including the recent publications on the far-right in the European Parliament. 🇪🇺 🗳️
https://feps-europe.eu/theme/democracy/

🤝 By FEPS in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | EU Office.

12/06/2026

What remains of our humanity if helping becomes a crime? Join us on 24 June for the screening of “From compassion to crime”, a powerful documentary by Dutch director Stanzen Jelsma, exploring the stories of individuals who have faced, and are still facing, legal action for helping across Europe. Register now!
👉 https://bit.ly/CompassionToCrime

Across Europe, many NGOs, civil society organisations, humanitarian workers, lawyers, journalists and private citizens have dedicated their time and skills to help people in need – a commitment our societies and governments should be proud of. In many European countries, however, humanitarian aid to refugees is increasingly portrayed in a negative light, if not openly criminalised.

Following the screening, director Stanzen Jelsma will be joined for a debate with:
🔸 Birgit Sippel, Member of the European Parliament, Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Germany
🔸 Cecilia Strada, Member of the European Parliament, Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Italy
🔸 László Andor, Secretary General, FEPS
🔸 Hedwig Giusto, Head of the International Programmes and Editor in Chief of the Progressive Post, FEPS

As humanitarian assistance is increasingly criminalised in parts of Europe, the film raises important questions about , and fundamental rights.

This event continues FEPS' ongoing work on migration, examining the complex relationships and cooperation between the European Union and countries of origin and transit, the implications of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, and much more.

Photo credit: © Stanzen Jelsma

12/06/2026

🗞️FEPS President Nicolas Schmit talks to Evi Kiorri of Euronews English on the tension between policy and Europe's labour shortages ahead of the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum Pact, which takes effect on 12 June.

Read the interview in full 👇
https://euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/11/why-europes-labour-needs-clash-with-its-migration-policy

11/06/2026

📕 Register for the live talk show with Dipo Faloyin, Nigerian-American author and journalist, as part of FEPS’ participation in the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament Africa Days!
https://bit.ly/LiveTalkShowDipoFaloyin

Dipo Faloyin will present his debut book, Africa Is Not a Country. Challenging stereotypes and misrepresentations about Africa, Faloyin explores the origins of the continent’s 54 countries while rejecting defeatist narratives.

Through a well-researched, witty, and ultimately hopeful analysis, he offers a fresh perspective on Africa and its capacity to imagine and build a brighter future for the continent

S&D Africa Days 2026 will bring together African policymakers, civil society representatives, youth leaders, trade unionists, cultural actors, and members of the diaspora to engage in meaningful dialogue and exchange. 🌎

At a time when Africa is too often viewed through narrow, one-sided narratives, this initiative reflects a key political priority for the S&D Group: to advance a renewed, forward-looking partnership of equals between Europe and Africa, based on equality, solidarity, social justice and shared progress.🌹 🇪🇺

🤝 By FEPS, in collaboration with Foundation Max van der Stoel - FMS and SOLIDAR, as part of Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament Africa Days.

10/06/2026

🎓 APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN - Join the FEPS Young Academics Network (FEPS YAN)!
https://bit.ly/FEPSYAN10

FEPS YAN gathers promising progressive PhD candidates and young PhD researchers and provides a space for them to use their academic experience to contribute to the debate about a more progressive Europe.

We’re looking for individuals who are:
👉 Passionate about the European Union and want to contribute to a debate on how to shape its future in a progressive manner
👉 Keen on working in an interdisciplinary, international environment
👉Ready to explore new ideas and use their own expertise to join an innovative collaborative project
👉 Desire to learn – from lecturers, trainers and peers
👉 Curious about the role of academics in politics and intrigued by the perspective of experiencing how research can be translated into policy recommendations through the work of a think tank
👉 Fluent in English
👉 Ready to commit to a 1,5 years cycle that will feature seminars, training sessions and work in the interdisciplinary Working Groups, and write a collective paper with the support of both the Academic and Political Mentors.

❗ Please note that this is a volunteer position, but that FEPS and Karl Renner Institut will cover costs connected with the programme, including travel, accommodation and food during events.

DEADLINE: 28 June 2026

Throughout the years and nine completed cycles, the initiative has gathered more than 450 members – many of whom are today professors at renowned universities, prominent experts in their respective fields, and frontbench politicians.

Their exchanges and interdisciplinary research at the time of their involvement have resulted in a number of stimulating studies, contributing to the European socialist and social democratic movement, to a broader discussion about the design and policies of the EU.

🤝 By FEPS, in collaboration with Karl-Renner-Institut, and with the support of Foundation Max van der Stoel - FMS, Fundacja Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego "Amicus Europae", Olof Palmes Internationella Center, Fondazione Pietro Nenni, Eteron and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung| EU Office.

09/06/2026

🇵🇹 TEN DAYS TO GO - Join FEPS in Porto at the conference "Social Europe is our target" to put social rights back at the heart of the EU. Register now!
👉 https://bit.ly/SocialEuropeisourTarget

This high-level conference will feature contributions from key European policymakers, including 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.

At a time when the European Union’s economic and geopolitical priorities are increasingly focused on competitiveness, deregulation and increased defence spending, the conference aims to relaunch the debate on the future of the European social dimension.

Speakers include:
🔸 Roxana Mînzatu, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights, Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness (online)
🔸 José Luís Carneiro, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Portugal
🔸 Nicolas Schmit, President, FEPS
🔸 Mário Centeno, Former Minister of Finance, Portugal, former Governor of the Bank of Portugal, former President of the Eurogroup
🔸 Estelle Ceulemans, Member of the European Parliament, Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament
🔸 Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament, S&D Group and Chair of the PES Social Europe Network (online)
🔸 Elisa Ferreira, Former European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, former Vice-Governor of the Bank of Portugal
🔸 Tanel Kiik, Member of Parliament, Former Minister of Social Affairs, Estonia
🔸 László Andor, Secretary General, FEPS
🔸 Marta Iglesias, Member of SOLIDAR’s Board and Director of Strategy and Advocacy at Movement for Peace (MPDL)
🔸 Erica Acosta, Advocate, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa
🔸 Sophia Reisecker, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
🔸 Ana Mendes Godinho, Former Minister of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, Portugal
🔸 Mónica Vidal, Built Environment Manager, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe
🔸 Maria Helena André, Former Deputy Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation, former Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities, former Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, Portugal
🔸 Pedro Silva Pereira, President, Fundação Res Publica
🔸 João Albuquerque, Director for International Relations, Fundação Res Publica
🔸 François Balate, Policy Analyst, FEPS

❌ Let’s stop trying to sell and put social rights back at the heart of the EU. Five years after the Porto Social Summit and the adoption of the Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), it is time to revive the spirit of Porto! 🇵🇹

🤝 By FEPS, in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Portugal, the Fundação Res Publica, SOLIDAR, the Johannes Mihkelsoni Keskus and Proforum.

06/06/2026

🇪🇺 is a peace project. To stay strong, it must be credible, transparent & tangible for all the EU and candidate countries' citizens

🗞️In the new Progressive Page, Kathleen Van Brempt reflects on the future of accession on the occasion of the EU-WB summit in . 🇲🇪

Twenty years after Montenegro regained independence, the upcoming EU-Western Balkan summit in Tivat should remind […]

05/06/2026

🇲🇪 On the week of the summit in Tivat, the Friends of the Western Balkans (FoWB) met in Montenegro to place regional cooperation in the Western Balkans at the centre of the discussion. On this occasion, they issued the official joint statement "Call for a progressive EU enlargement". Find out more.
➡️ https://bit.ly/WhatDrivesEnlargement

The discussion provided a platform for exchange among members of the European Parliament, representatives of national parliaments from the Social Democratic family and a broad network of experts to:
🔍 Reassess whether and how regional cooperation can still function as a credible instrument of enlargement
⚙️ Discuss the risks of the instrumentalisation of the as a platform for accessing funding or consolidating political alliances
🇭🇺 Examine the implications of recent political developments in Hungary for the enlargement process
🌱 Present the challenges and opportunities related to the in the Western Balkans, aligning with EU Green Agenda goals while supporting affected workers and communities

While new proposals to reform the EU enlargement methodology circulate in Brussels and beyond, it must be underlined that enlarging the Union is, and will always remain, primarily a matter of political will – both among Member States and in candidate countries.

🤝 By FEPS, in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | EU Office, Foundation Max van der Stoel - FMS, Kalevi Sorsa -säätiö, Olof Palmes Internationella Center, Fondation Jean Jaurès, Karl-Renner-Institut, CeSPI, Društvo Progresiva and the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, in the framework of FEPS Enlargement Programme. The conference was preceded by the S&D W***y Brandt Programme conference.