The next German government has a historic opportunity to set a progressive agenda for the coming decade. Read our newsletter to find out what’s at stake. Plus: All the latest publications & news from Das Progressive Zentrum.

On the occasion of the 2021 Bundestag election, Das Progressive Zentrum e.V. hosted the non-partisan “Great Election Night 2021” in the state representation of Rhineland-Palatinate.

On September 26th, German voters will decide on the future direction of the EU’s largest member state. Rarely has there been an election with such a striking opportunity to shape the social, economic, and ecological terms of German society. Although the race is still open, the chances are high that after 16 years of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany will soon be led by a new and progressive government. With such a seismic shift, it is not unreasonable to wonder: could this new era in Germany act as a catalyst for progressive politics across Europe? 

The online summit hosted more than 30 sessions and focused on transformation, democracy, progressive leadership, and Europe’s role in a multilateral world from from 09 to 11 June 2021. Olaf Scholz, Margrethe Vestager, Nadia Calviño, Ardalan Shekarabi, Robert Habeck, Jagmeet Singh, Leonore Gewessler and up to 75 other speakers from Europe and North America participated in the event.

The majority of Germans want the future chancellor to adopt a new style of political leadership. This is the result of a representative survey commissioned by the Berlin-based think tank ‘Das Progressive Zentrum’ in mid-May 2021. The survey was realized by Civey. According to the results, Angela Merkel’s successor should above all be courageous in ‘taking new bold paths’, be ‘willing to change’ and show ‘assertiveness’.

At the beginning of 2021, the world waited in anticipation for Joe Biden to be inaugurated the 46th President of the United States and the first woman Vice-President, Kamala Harris. 100 days later, what is the state of democracy in the United States and the transatlantic partnership?

Tomorrow’s policies must be both visionary and efficient to meet the challenges of the pandemic and its aftermath. Our board members Michael Miebach and Judith Siller and our executive director Dominic Schwickert explain why progressive ideas belong on the agenda right now and take an optimistic look at 2021.

Revisit the highlights of the Progressive Governance Digital Summit 2020, including remarks by Madeleine Albright, Lodewijk Asscher, Annalena Baerbock, Nadia Calviño, Anneliese Dodds, Anke Hassel, Matthew Goodwin, Joschka Fischer, Heiko Maas, Mariana Mazzucato, Dani Rodrik, Olaf Scholz, Matthew Taylor, Adam Tooze, Catherine E. de Vries.

The online summit will host more than 30 sessions and focus on transformation, democracy, progressive leadership and Europe’s role in a multilateral world. Olaf Scholz, Neera Tanden, Maja Göpel, Hubertus Heil, Dani Rodrik and up to 100 other speakers from Europe and North America will participate in the event. It will take place from 15 to 19 June 2020.

Das Progressive Zentrum signs the call “Learning from the crisis: empower civil society organisations!” and calls for an active digital ecosystem that offers real choices.

After innovating its governing structure, Das Progressive Zentrum is now led by an extended executive team, which is comprised of the Executive Director as well as three Heads of Programmes, the Head of Office and the Head of Communications.

The Golden Autumn night was this year’s political evening event of Das Progressive Zentrum.

Executive Director Dominic Schwickert reflects on the months leading up to the European elections and on reorganising the team. An editorial for the upcoming newsletter 1/2019.

The Innovation in Politics Awards are presented annually to honour courageous and creative political work throughout Europe – regardless of party or country. This year, 9 political projects from Germany made it to the finals. An international jury of 1,053 European citizens selected 80 finalists from more than 600 nominations. The winners will be announced at a gala event in November in Vienna.

After the establishment of a new grand coalition on 14th of March 2018 in Germany, Fedor Ruhose, Policy Fellow at Das Progressive Zentrum, and DPZ-Director Dominic Schwickert analyse the current state of the centre-left parties, in particular the SPD. They point out upcoming challenges in the national and European context and set out five key challenges which German social democrats must overcome.

Four policy briefs, several workshops and two high-profile speeches conclude the more than two-years transnational dialogue process at eye level with young, promising thinkers from Greece, Portugal, Italy, France, Spain and Germany.

How could populist movements become that strong in France, Italy and Germany? And how can progressives push back their influence? Eight proposals.

Over 700 guests attended the Progressive Governance Symposium and our tenth-anniversary celebration on 3 July 2017. Managing Director Dominic Schwickert takes stock of the day.

Conference Programme