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Patrick ten Brink


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

Patrick ten Brink

A new European social contract must be green

Patrick ten Brink 13th May 2024

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 12th April 2024

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 19th December 2023

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 24th October 2023

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

Backtracking on a green and just transition?

Patrick ten Brink 4th October 2023

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 20th July 2023

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 13th March 2023

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

Progress and setbacks from COP27

Patrick ten Brink 23rd November 2022

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 12th October 2022

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 15th June 2021

‘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 3rd March 2021

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 23rd April 2020

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.

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In a new Eurofound Talks podcast episode, host Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound expert Carlos Vacas Soriano about recent changes to minimum wages in Europe and their implications.

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Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


READ THE MAGAZINE

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WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

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Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity”,

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

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