On 28 June 2016 German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, together with the German Federal Minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, officially launched the DIALOGUE ON EUROPE-project at the Europasaal of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

We are delighted to officially announce that we have started new strategic cooperations with the Italian think tank Volta as well as the French think tank Terra Nova.

Two weeks before British citizens go to the polls, our third roundtable on the Brexit referendum took place. Our key questions concerned current British debates, the latest developments in British politics at the eve of the referendum, as well as British, German, and European perspectives on how to proceed after this – in any case – decisive moment for Europe.

The recent Polish and French elections are especially topical and worrying reminders of the current rise of right-wing populist parties all over Europe. To debate this urgent European problem, Das Progressive Zentrum, with support of the German Federal Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, organised an international roundtable, which took place on December 16, 2015 in Berlin.

In the past weeks, the think tank Das Progressive Zentrum has not just been thinking but also doing. And we have been doing an awful lot! We have been expanding and renovating our offices on Werftstraße, located in the heart of political Berlin and just a stone’s throw from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, from the Federal Chancellery, central station and Schloss Bellevue, official residence of the President of Germany.

In addition to updating our virtual space we have used the summer recess to update our physical space too. And so, since the 1st of September, we have significantly expanded our office space in the Werftstraße in the heart of Berlin. In addition to numerous new work spaces, we now also have another large conference room available for our use and for very different event formats.

We have revamped our website, expanded our offices in the heart of political Belin – and have grown our team at Das Progressives Zentrum.

On the 15th of October 2015, the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, spoke about the state of European politics at an evening reception organised by Das Progressive Zentrum and the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung. Opening words of welcome were spoken by Dr. Roland Schmidt, Director of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, and by Dominic Schwickert, Director of Das Progressive Zentrum. In his keynote address, Steinmeier outlined that Europe is faced with monumental challenges.

Festgemacht an Zahlen, Daten und Fakten steht Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich nicht so schlecht dar, wie es manche hierzulande empfinden. Und doch: Die Empfindung, dass wir eine grundlegende Krise erleben, könnte ein richtiger Kompass sein, denn wir stehen vor großen nationalen und globalen Herausforderungen. Wir müssen sie in den Blick nehmen und die Gestaltungsaufgabe annehmen, wenn wir eine lebenswerte Zukunft gewinnen wollen.

Die Fortschrittsgruppe “Leben & Arbeiten” des Fortschrittsforums hat sich seit 2011 mit Entwicklungen und Veränderungen in der Arbeits- und Lebenswelt beschäftigt und dabei Antworten auf die Frage “Wie wollen wir arbeiten?” gesucht. Der vorliegende Bericht stellt Diskussionspapiere der Arbeitsgruppe vor.

Was macht Politik erfolgreich? Was macht erfolgreiche Politik aus? Und wie verhält man sich als Politiker im Spannungsfeld der Macht, um zu den besten Ergebnissen zu kommen? Als Mitherausgeber und Autor haben der Geschäftsführer des Progressiven Zentrums, Dominic Schwickert, sowie Dr. Leonard Novy, Mitglied im Circle of Friends des Progressiven Zentrums, an einem Buch mitgewirkt, in dem das “who is who” der deutschen Politik der letzten Jahre essayistisch und kurzweilig persönliche Antworten auf diese Fragen gibt.