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Illustration of workers in a circular economy with renewable energy and recycling.

Europe’s Circular Economy Must Be Built for Workers, Not Just Resources

Judith Kirton-Darling, Philippe Pochet and Laurent Standaert

Brussels wants to double recycling by 2030, but efficiency targets alone cannot build a fairer, more resilient economy.

Illustration of economic reforms with carrots, gears, and government buildings in Europe.

Incentives Beat Threats: Europe’s Quiet Reform Breakthrough

Igor Guardiancich, Mattia Guidi, Enrico Borghetto and Lucia Quaglia

NextGenerationEU exposed an awkward truth: governments reform faster when Brussels offers cash than when it threatens punishment.

Illustration of global trade with ships, planes, and infrastructure.

Hyperglobalization 2.0: Why AI Has Not Slowed the World Down

Nicolás M. Perrone

Trade wars suggest deglobalisation, but the AI race is wiring the world together at unprecedented speed.

Illustration of a hand giving coins to a factory, with rising bar graphs and coins.

Europe’s Largest Companies Now Lend More Than They Invest

Mariana Mazzucato

Europe drowns in cheap capital yet starves for investment — because its biggest firms now lend rather than build.

High-voltage power lines silhouetted against a sunset sky.

Why Solar Grids, Not American LNG, Should Power Europe Next

Jeffrey Sommers, Daniel Pop and Cosmin Marian

A southern-solar, north-south grid offers Europe an escape from both Russian gas and overpriced American LNG.

Illustration of people climbing stairs under a giant hand, symbolising regulation and control.

EU Inc Is a Deregulation Tool in Disguise

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès

The Commission’s optional “EU company” lets firms register anywhere and sidestep the national rules that protect workers.

Classical balance scales between ancient columns on colourful background.

Democracy, Control, or Competitiveness: The AI Trilemma

Piergiuseppe Fortunato

A new papal encyclical exposes the democratic trilemma shaping how the world governs artificial intelligence.

Stylish man in sunglasses relaxing outdoors with a smartphone.

A Solidarity Tax on Billionaires Could Raise €800 Billion

Thomas Piketty

France is set to make decisive political choices in the coming year. On one side stands a nationalist right wing on the rise, increasingly aligned

Colorful digital art of a man with cityscape background in neon style.

Orbán Is Gone, but His State Machine Remains

Zsuzsanna Szelényi

After 16 years of illiberal rule, Péter Magyar must rebuild Hungarian democracy without breaking its own constitutional rules.

A swirling industrial storm with factory chimneys and a factory in the background.

Europe’s Industrial Tsunami Demands a Quality Jobs Act

Judith Kirton-Darling

Europe's industrial transition risks becoming a social tsunami; only binding labour guarantees, not soft coordination, can prevent it.

Futuristic digital art of a human face split with AI elements and circuitry.

AI’s Real Danger Is What It Does Well

Vladimír Šucha

The help and the harm are a single event, and at the level of institutions, AI is already draining the judgement on which good government depends.

Futuristic illustration of a person with headphones contemplating AI impact.

The Pope Should Have Gone Further on AI

Daron Acemoglu

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we communicate, access information, and work, how income and status are distributed, and even how we wage war. Yet the

Illustration of Elon Musk with SpaceX rocket in background.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO Is Funded by Other People’s Pensions

Frank Hoffer

An IPO engineered for rapid index inclusion turns ordinary pension savers into involuntary financiers of Elon Musk's fantasies.

Silhouette of a person with rising bar graphs and a red sun in the background.

Higher Interest Rates Punish Workers for a Crisis They Did Not Cause

Esther Lynch

As central banks squeeze households, corporations protect their margins — and the European social model pays the price.

Modern skyscraper against a colourful sunset sky with swirling clouds.

The ECB’s Costly Illusion: Rate Hikes That Do Not Reach Inflation

Paul De Grauwe

Central banks are again poised to raise rates against an oil-shock inflation — and again the costs will dwarf the effects.

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Progressive Thinking on the Big Issues of Our Time

Read by policymakers, academics and journalists in 100+ countries.

S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

S&D conference The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision, 9 September 2026, European Parliament, Brussels

S&D conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision”

The S&D Group is pleased to invite you to our conference “The Middle East at crossroads: A progressive vision” on Wednesday, 9 September, from 14:30 to 18:30, in the European Parliament in Brussels as well as online, where we will discuss the geopolitical changes taking place in the Middle East.

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Cover of the ETUI and OSE book Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2025.

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

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EurofoundTalks podcast with Mary McCaughey and Eszter Sandor: Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

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

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Cover of The Progressive Post issue 31, Summer 2026: The Mediterranean, a crowded sea.

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.

READ THE MAGAZINE

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WSI blog series “Climate Transition: Socially Just and Fair”: How the climate crisis and global migration are linked, by Neva Löw and Maximilian Pichl

How the climate crisis and global migration are linked

The climate crisis and global migration are closely linked. Emancipatory forces must demand and defend the right to be able to leave, but not to have to leave. This means defending and expanding asylum rights.

READ HERE

FES Advertisement

Cover of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung analysis The Capability State: A Progressive Vision for the 21st Century by Henning Meyer.

“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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