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Avatar photoPatrick ten Brink

Patrick ten Brink is secretary general of the European Environmental Bureau.

A new European social contract must be green

Patrick ten Brink

Civil society stands up for a European pact for the future—green, social and fit for a one-planet economy.

EU leaders may miss a rendezvous with history

Patrick ten Brink

The emerging strategic agenda for the next EU mandate reveals an ecological step backwards Europe cannot afford to take.

2024: a year that will decide the future

Patrick ten Brink, Faustine Bas-Defossez and Christian Skrivervik

The European Green Deal faces a fork in the road—between the politics of hope and the politics of fear—as the June elections loom.

Energy union: including the public imperative

Patrick ten Brink

Pursuit of industrial competitiveness and renewable technologies must avoid a backlash from disengaged citizens.

Backtracking on a green and just transition?

Patrick ten Brink and Faustine Bas-Defossez

The Granada declaration will signal whether Europe’s leaders can rise to the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.

Nature Restoration Law: an opportunity crucial to seize

Patrick ten Brink, Faustine Bas-Defossez and Laura Hildt

The EU Nature Restoration Law has been saved but with its ambition deeply eroded—negotiators must restore its aspirations.

How to promote green industry beyond subsidies

Patrick ten Brink and Luke Haywood

The EU has more to offer green industry—a stronger regulatory framework and credible carbon pricing.

Progress and setbacks from COP27

Patrick ten Brink, Luke Haywood, Katy Wiese and Alberto Vela

The European Union cannot rely on the United Nations process to deliver and must reinforce its own climate efforts.

Green Deal: the light at the end of the crisis tunnel

Patrick ten Brink and Alberto Vela

The faster we deploy the European Green Deal, the quicker we become crisis-proof. Brussels must resist siren calls for inertia.

Pollution: no acceptable levels

Patrick ten Brink, Margherita Tolotto and Sergiy Moroz

‘Zero pollution’ is a very good goal for the European Union to adopt—but only if zero means zero.

Leaving behind the EU’s deadly addiction to deregulation

Patrick ten Brink

Better regulation is benevolent and participatory, cognisant of complexity and future-oriented. Deregulation it is not.

Returning our food systems to business as usual would be a historic mistake

Patrick ten Brink

Amid the coronavirus crisis, some are calling for a deferral of European ecological action. Yet unsustainable food systems are one source of new human diseases.

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D Housing Storytelling

Europeans are struggling with rising housing and rental costs, and we have been working in various ways to address this, because we believe a home is a right for everyone.
 Recently, we travelled across Europe to hear directly from people who struggle to afford a decent place to live. They shared a glimpse of how the housing crisis has affected their lives and why having a home is so important to them. Take a moment to check out their stories. They remind us why it is so urgent to act.

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New Edition - Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025

Can Europe preserve its distinctive social model while simultaneously rearming, reindustrialising, and reorganising its economy in a more conflictual and competitive world? This is the central question raised in this new edition of the Bilan social, a reference publication released every spring for more than 25 years by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE).

READ HERE
Eurofound Advertisement

Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE
FEPS Advertisement

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out! 

The EU is belatedly awakening to a changing Mediterranean sea, where more assertive regional powers are reclaiming a role.

The new issue of the magazine also reflects on how we struggle to keep pace with AI innovations, examines the uncertainties surrounding the execution of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the risk to human rights posed by the Return Regulation, and focuses on the EU Commission's newly proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

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Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Climate policy measures are often met with feelings of powerlessness and disempowerment, triggering fears and resentment. This blog series asks: What does a socially just climate transition look like? How can we create acceptance for just climate policies? 

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“What is the actual purpose of the state?” – this central question is the focus of the analysis. At a time when bureaucratic processes are making life difficult for citizens, the paper proposes a three-part model. It aims at a conception of the state as a platform that helps society build the capabilities it needs to address its problems effectively.

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