This Was the Daring New Spaces Summit

Laying out bold visions of a 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.

To bring about a truly European public sphere, we first need clear and bold visions. At the summit, Das Progressive Zentrum did just that by launching three vision papers that vividly describe Europe and its robust public sphere in 2025. The papers also lay out stepping stones on how such visions could become reality.

The three vision papers were written by Daring New Spaces working groups, who focussed on European Discourses and NarrativesPractised European Values, and European Civic Cooperation.Backing up these visions are hard data compiled by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). This data was analysed in policy paper on the interdependence of solidarity, cohesion, and the public sphere in Europe. Read more about their interactive tools that have been tracking solidarity and measuring cohesion in Europe!

The Daring New Spaces project film premiered at the summit. In this film, project co-lead Maria Skóra introduces the project’s structure and approach, the facilitators and experts make the case for why the visions and solutions created in the Daring New Spaces project are needed, and the vision of the European Public Sphere in 2025 is unveiled. Check it out, below!

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Passing on the Baton

How will the EU Council Presidency continue to work on a European public sphere, as Portugal takes over from Germany? Michael Roth, State Minister for Europe from Germany and Tiago Antunes, Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime-Minister were interviewed on this and other European matters. Watch the full conversation, moderated by Daring New Spaces fellows Dr. Emilia Palonen and Dr. Stefan Cibian again here:

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The European public sphere is not just institutions, but also arts and culture. In this spirit, the Polish poet Jakobe Mansztajn wrote a poem called „Europa Europa“ for the Daring New Spaces Summit, which accompanied the keynotes, pitches and panels throughout the event. The poem was translated from Polish into English by Tul’si Bhambry.


For the past months, the project Daring New Spaces has created bold visions of a European public sphere for the year 2025 – as well as policy proposals on how we can get there. These visions were based on expert interviews and developed by young civil society leaders from across Europe using a future studies methodology. At the summit, the most promising ideas and policy recommendations from this process were presented and discussed. This summit was organised by Das Progressive Zentrum, together with the German Federal Foreign Office, the European Council on Foreign Relations and Stiftung Mercator.

Authors

Paulina Fröhlich

Deputy Managing Director and Head of Resilient Democracy
Paulina Fröhlich is Deputy Managing Director and Head of the Future of Democracy Programme.

Dr. Maria Skóra

Policy Fellow, Research Associate (Institut für Europäische Politik)
Maria Skóra is a Research Associate at the Institut für Europäische Politik and a policy fellow at Das Progressive Zentrum. Previously, she was head of the International Dialogue program at Das Progressive Zentrum. She holds a master's degree in sociology and a PhD in economics. 2018 Alumna of the Young Leaders Program at the Aspen Institute Central Europe in Prague. 2019 Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and AICGS, Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
Clara ist seit Oktober Praktikantin bei Das Progressive Zentrum im Bereich Internationaler Dialog und wirkt dazu am European Hub for Civic Engagement mit. Sie studierte Wirtschaft, Politik und Fremdsprachen an der Universität Passau mit einem Auslandssemester an der Universität Leiden.

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