Why Europe must embrace an “abundance agenda” to deliver results, restore trust, and counter rising populism.
In the past few weeks, the term “Abundance” has taken the U.S. policy world by storm. Originating from Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s New York Times best selling book of the same title, its philosophy has rapidly gained traction as a potential playbook for Democrats seeking to recover from their 2024 Presidential Elections defeat. While the book is obviously focused on American politics, it also contains valuable lessons and cautionary tales that should be top of mind for European leaders that are striving to keep the European project together amidst geopolitical shifts.
At the centre of the “Abundance Agenda” is a deceptively simple idea: to create the future we want, we must build and invent more of what we need. Klein and Thompson go to the extreme of arguing that scarcity is a policy choice rather than a consequence of natural limits, with governments’ self-imposed constraints often being the ones to blame for preventing progress in areas like housing, infrastructure, health, and the green transition.
One of the book’s sharpest criticisms is aimed directly at its intended audience. The authors argue that the current Democratic Party has fallen into “lawn-sign liberalism”, a phenomenon where voters are symbolically liberal, showing support for campaigns of social justice while at the same time being operationally conservative, fighting to halt the very policies that would lead to increasing equity if it means having to give up even just a part of their existing privileges.
This hypocrisy is evident in conservative states like Texas, governed by climate sceptics, which nonetheless, through a laissez-faire approach, are able to consistently install far more solar power capacity (+240 percent in 2023) than progressive California, where climate action is championed rhetorically but hindered by regulatory barriers that block or slow down significant implementation. Similarly, while San Francisco faces a housing crisis despite a widespread belief in California in the fundamental right to shelter, Dallas is able to build tens of thousands of more homes per year (22,480 more than San Francisco’s 1,823 in 2023) and boasts some of the lowest homelessness rates in the country.
The European Union can learn many lessons from this book. It can also recognise some of its own successes, especially when comparing healthcare and education in the United States. However, the main takeaway is that populists gain support not just from economic problems but also from the belief that governments are ineffective. Eurosceptics strive to frame the European Union as slow, overly bureaucratic, and more focused on processes than outcomes. While the EU has historically demonstrated its ability to act decisively in moments of crisis, such as with the creation of the €750 billion Next Generation EU fund at the start of the pandemic, as well as the recently adopted €800 billion Rearm EU defence package, this reactive approach is proving to be insufficient. To counter Eurosceptic narratives and ensure resilience, the EU must embrace an abundance mindset that prioritises proactive and continuous progress rather than waiting for do-or-die situations.
It means having the courage to fully embrace bold initiatives like those outlined in the Letta and Draghi reports and demonstrating the EU’s capacity to deliver tangible, meaningful results that directly improve citizens’ lives. It means measuring success not by the size of a budget, as with Rearm EU, but by the real-world impact achieved with the resources allocated. It means resisting the temptation to deregulate in ways that undermine climate commitments for short-term competitiveness gains and instead focusing on removing bureaucratic bottlenecks that hinder the implementation of technologies essential for a greener, more digital, and more equitable future.
As housing is one of the main focuses of the book, the success of our first-ever Housing Commissioner should be measured by the number of additional homes built during their term, rather than by the amount of money spent on these initiatives. This means the EU should close the investment gap in social and affordable housing, as highlighted in the Draghi report. It should also create tools to track progress and measure social impact. These tools will help hold leaders accountable and ensure investments are used effectively.
It means that scaling new technologies in sectors such as clean energy, AI, and biotech should not only be mere policy priorities, but that attention should shift to the implementation of these objectives. Currently, a significant net-zero course correction is required but discourse in Brussels is headed in the opposite direction. Having policy objectives in place to deploy these technologies at scale is not sufficient; realistic targets and foresight models are needed to make them a reality, but the political will needed to take on the challenge has to come first.
Considering the ongoing preparations for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the future of major EU funds such as the Cohesion Fund, implementing an abundance agenda also means enhancing social policy objectives in EU policymaking. Clearly, in the current geopolitical context, trade-offs would need to be made between different policy areas. These would, however, need to go beyond a rather simplistic binary choice between defence or welfare, as others have argued. Applying an abundance mindset means that the primary focus of future negotiations should be on better spending rather than more spending and focusing on the outcomes of reforms rather than the budget per se.
Abundance is not just about building more things better; it’s about showing that governments can be efficient and get results that citizens demand in a timely manner. It’s about showing that Europe can thrive by turning ideals into action and ensuring that its promises are matched by outcomes. The current geopolitical turmoil should serve as a springboard to give Europe a fundamental new sense of purpose. The time for incrementalism has passed; Europe must act decisively to build abundance for all.
Elizabeth Kuiper is Associate Director and Head of the Social Europe and Well-being programme at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.
