This Discussion Paper takes a closer look at the current challenges of the European foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia and sketches a vision for a new generation of Ostpolitik, aiming at organizing European unity as well as strengthening the EU’s strategic alliances in Eastern Europe and across the Atlantic.

Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States. From the minute he is sworn in, his administration will begin working on reversing many of his predecessor’s legacies on climate change, immigration, and domestic policy. Underlying these efforts will be the challenge of unifying a country in an era of rampant disinformation. To guide the country through this fact-rejecting fog and towards social and economic justice, the new administration must deliver visible relief and recovery.

„My message to everyone struggling right now is this: Help is on the way“, twitterte der designierte Präsident der USA, Joe Biden, am 1. Dezember 2020. Am Ende des Jahres 2020 haben nicht nur viele Amerikanerinnen und Amerikaner mit der Covid-19 Gesundheitskrise zu kämpfen, sondern auch mit den wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Folgen.

Our new podcast Talking Progress dives headfirst into everything progressive. In its first series, we analyse what needs to be achieved to create a European Public Sphere. In its third episode, we have invited two guests to evaluate how Europeans appraise European values and why the European Union should implement civic education.

Our new podcast Talking Progress dives headfirst into everything progressive. In its first series, we analyse what needs to be achieved to create a European Public Sphere. We have invited two guests to evaluate which role transnational activism can play in this and how the European Union should encourage and support civil society cooperation across European borders.

Our new podcast Talking Progress dives headfirst into everything progressive. In its first series, we analyse what needs to be achieved to create a European Public Sphere. For this first episode, we have invited two journalists to reflect on cross-border journalism and media cooperation. Can these approaches boost the European Public Sphere?

A public sphere is not only created and stimulated through media or marketplaces – but also art and culture. Since they play such an important role in Europe and for connecting people, Das Progressive Zentrum felt like it was important to give them both a role at the Daring New Spaces Summit on the European Public Sphere.

Over 100 participants discussed and debated future visions for Europe during the Daring New Spaces Summit on the European public sphere on 10 December. In keynotes and debates, and listening to pitches and poetry, the participants envisioned what Europe and its public sphere could and should look like in 2025. The event culminated with two project fellows interviewing Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth (DE) and Tiago Antunes (PT), Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime-Minister.

Beyond the doom and gloom that has dominated media coverage of the EU in recent years, there is another story to tell: the story of a strong and resilient European cohesion, which has held Europeans together like a powerful glue during the past decade of crises. Based on several data projects of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Jana Puglierin sheds light on the interdependence of European solidarity, European cohesion and a European public sphere.

Individual countries will not be able to successfully address society’s current challenges. Only a solidarity-based and networked Europe can rise to the occasion. For this, we need new spaces and methods of collaboration to strengthen the European public sphere. Join us on 10 December, 2:00 – 5:00 pm CET as participants from around Europe come together to debate and discuss the Europe of tomorrow.

“Kniefall von Warschau” was a symbolic and historic gesture that occurred during Chancellor Willy Brandt’s visit to Poland in December 1970. At a monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Chancellor Brandt unexpectedly knelt. The trip and that moment was one of the stepping stones towards a new Ostpolitik, aiming at improving relations with the Eastern Bloc while consolidating the West. It significantly contributed to easing geopolitical tensions and has become a blueprint for a paradigm of “change through rapprochement” in foreign policy.
 
50 years later, we again find ourselves in a turbulent situation. We face the ongoing escalation between the West and Russia. The EU has been struggling with a political crisis, best manifested by the unclear direction of further integration (Brexit) or disputes on shared values (Poland, Hungary). We also seem to lack a smart strategy for an Eastern Partnership, once a flagship foreign policy initiative of the EU. Last but not least, the transatlantic bond weakened by the last four years of the Trump administration demands immediate attention.
 
With a change of leadership in the US, there is a glimmer of hope that things will change. Inspired by this important anniversary, we want to seek a progressive answer to the challenges we face. What is left of Willy Brandt’s daring and dialogue-based foreign policy today? Do we need a new progressive Ostpolitik?
 

November 3rd was a historic election day in the United States, which melted into a week of waiting and commentary. What political victories did the Democrats score and what is the future for them as a party? Diego Rivas unpacks the election week with a review of the stories that defined this historic vote.

Am 3. November fanden in den USA sowohl Präsidentschafts- als auch Parlamentswahlen statt. Wie können sich ihre Ergebnisse auf die globale Rolle der Städte auswirken? Diskutieren Sie mit über eine neue Ära des Multilateralismus von unten – mit Almut Möller, Staatsrätin der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, und Stephen K. Benjamin, Bürgermeister von Columbia, SC.

The Democrats are locked in a head to head race under a unified, broad coalition on the national level – against Trump. However, winning the Senate and the House will determine if it is even possible to work towards a just normality that represents the people and reflects their hopes and desires. Diego Rivas analyses the US Elections and opportunities for progressive change.

In den letzten fünf Jahren sind viele politische Systeme rechtspopulistischen Parteien und Tendenzen zum Opfer gefallen. Die aktuelle globale Gesundheitslage und die Klimakrise verstärken diese Bedrohung. Mutige Antworten sind dringend gefordert. Progressive Akteure müssen jedoch Siege an der Wahlurne erreichen, bevor sie ihre Visionen umsetzen können. Larry Cohen und Bettina Martin diskutierten.

Am 1. Oktober startet der transatlantische Dialog der 20 VordenkerInnen aus Deutschland und den USA. Die Projekt-Fellows erden sich damit beschäftigen, wie Städte mit globalen Herausforderungen umgehen und dabei gleichzeitig urbane Räume demokratisieren können.

Die COVID-19-Pandemie hat die soziale Lage in allen Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union verschärft – allerdings in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß. Doch Ungleichgewichte und soziale Schieflagen können nicht allein von nationalen Politiken aufgefangen werden. Im Interview fassen Alexander Schellinger und Hatice Sever die zentralen Argumente der Untersuchung zusammen und erläutern die Idee von Europäischen Mindeststandards für die nationale Grundsicherung.

Mithilfe der Umfragen leisten die Universität Konstanz und das Progressive Zentrum einen Beitrag zum besseren Verständnis der sozialen und politischen Folgen der Corona-Krise. In den Studien analysieren die Forschenden die Themen „Solidarität mit den europäischen Nachbarn“, „Arbeit im Home Office“ und das „Vertrauen in Politik, Krisenmanagement und das Gesundheitssystem“.

The future needs a vibrant European public sphere. But we need to work in the present to make it a reality.

Das neue Projekt des Progressiven Zentrums will Zukunftsvisionen für eine europäische Öffentlichkeit entwickeln und in die Trio-Ratspräsidentschaft der Europäischen Union (EU) einbringen.