Das Progressive Zentrum

The PGS, a gathering of eminent progressive leaders and thinkers from over 21 countries, took place in Berlin on April 25, 2019. It is unique in that it combines party-political networking and leaders forums with policy input from leading public intellectuals. This year’s symposium marked an important milestone in the European and Transatlantic progressive movement discussing the imperative for progressives around the world to reinvigorate their policies and politics in the face of resurgent right-wing nationalism and populism.

On March 29, experts and practitioners from eight countries met at the Federal Foreign Office to discuss the concept of Just Transition and exchange good practices on the way to its successful implementation. The event kick-started the ‘Foreign Policy and the Just Energy Transition’ project, aiming to provide new impulses for the global energy transition as a whole, particularly in the context of Germany’s membership in the United Nations Security Council and its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU.

Among the guests are Maja Göpel, Robert Habeck, Marije Laffeber, Tim Ryan, Stephan Weil and many more leading and emerging academics, activists and decision-makers from Europe and the US that are coming together to discuss their ideas for rejuvenating the progressive movement. How can progressive politics counter nationalism? How can we shift to a more sustainable and inclusive economic system? How can we ensure that everyone has a share in progress?

Join us for the Leaders Debate and Celebrating Spring Party of the Progressive Governance Symposium 2019. The event takes place on 25 April 2019, starting at 5.30 pm.

On Friday, 22 March 2019, Harvard Professor Roberto Unger, as well as Madeleine Gabriel and Isaac Stanley from the London-based innovation foundation Nesta, presented their new study “Imagination Unleashed: Democratising the Knowledge Economy” at the Democracy Lab. The authors propose to radically change our current economic structure in a way that allows for more people, places and firms to participate in the knowledge economy.

What should the democracy of the future look like? Which institutional changes are required to cope with the challenges of a globalised and digital world? And how can we include people more effectively in political decision-making processes? The Democracy Lab brought together stakeholders from civil society, academia and politics in order to find answers to these questions. In our Progress Report, we present our ideas, projects and results of the first project phase.

While the European Parliament elections near, politics in Poland is at such a crux that the later parliamentary polls there will have wide reverberations.

The Berlin political scene met with Timothy Snyder, one of the leading American historians and public intellectuals. It was an occasion to talk about his latest book, “Road to Unfreedom” and its possible implications for political practice. The event was co-organised by The German Marshall Fund of the United States and Das Progressive Zentrum.

We commemorate the brave European and Democrat Paweł Adamowicz, murdered in January 2019.

In this Policy Paper, Daniel Schade discusses a relatively new format to foster parliamentary cooperation in the EU: interparliamentary conferences (ICPs). He suggests multiple venues for reforming the present IPCs to facilitate the fulfillment of their objectives.

Artificial intelligence is widely considered “one of the most strategic technologies of the 21st century”. Will Europe prove able to compete in this global race? Genuine ambitions are out there: The European Commission has officially declared it a high priority.

Policy fellow Katarzyna Anna Klimowicz evaluates a new phenomenon on the political scene in Europe: network parties. This paper identifies common features of network parties by looking at best practices and characteristics, especially in the organisational structure and political programmes.

How should the European Union tackle the growing threat of cyber attacks? How can cybersecurity be effectively governed at a European level? To address these questions and advance the debate on the EU digital strategy, Das Progressive Zentrum partnered with EuropaNova and Renaissance Numérique to host an expert discussion on the topic.

Das Progressive Zentrum has scouted innovative projects by politicians in Germany. A European jury has nominated nine of those for the finals. The price will be awarded in Vienna on 17 November. Even though all nominees follow different approaches, they are united by one theme.

How can technological advancement be shaped in a more socially compatible way? This and many more pressing questions will be addressed at this year’s Revision Summit on 19-20 November in Berlin. Das Progressive Zentrum is a partner of the event.

How can we promote an equal society in current power structures? How can we set ethical standards in technology and science? As a partner of the event, Das Progressive Zentrum will join the debates on these and many more crucial questions at this year’s Q Berlin conference.

The British Council, Das Progressive Zentrum and Policy Network are interested in hearing and promoting your ideas for fostering cultural exchange between the United Kingdom, Germany and Europe.

Together with its Bulgarian, Slovak and Polish partners, Das Progressive Zentrum kicks-off with a new project focused on mobilising voters for the May 2019 European elections. The objective of this initiative is also to hear the voices of young European citizens: what European Union do they wish for in the future?

For the launch of the English and French versions of its study “Return to the politically abandoned: Conversations in right-wing populist strongholds in Germany and France,” Das Progressive Zentrum met with representatives from the European Policy Centre, the European Commission, as well as members of the media and the interested public in Brussels to discuss the study’s findings. Read the participants’ views and reactions here.

The study’s design and results have led to an overwhelmingly positive reception in Germany and created great interest in other countries. To take the debate to the European level, the study has now been translated into English and French