What kind of policies are needed to support the European arts and culture scene? How can new digital spaces empower cultural actors across Europe? To answer these questions, Das Progressive Zentrum and the Goethe-Institut organised the “Europe takes part!” digital summit on 29 April 2021.

A new cooperation platform for civil society will launch its exploration phase on 1 March 2021. The „European Hub for Civic Engagement“ will strengthen democracy in Europe by providing a digital infrastructure for activists and operatives of civil society organisations (CSOs). Since 2019, the „Hub“ has been developed in an extensive consultation process involving hundreds of civil society actors from across Europe.

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.

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

Over 250 participants attended the European Hub for Civic Engagement’s Meet-up in Berlin to discuss how tech can empower civil society. Four prototypes showcased the potential of such tech solutions. However, the debate also uncovered three conditions of a successful implementation.

During the Meet-Up 2020, Das Progressive Zentrum and the European Hub for Civic Engagement (EHCE) will present 4 prototypes for an online platform to strengthen and interconnect European civil society.

In September 2019, Das Progressive Zentrum hosted two workshops in Gdansk and Lisbon with 42 civil society representatives from 23 European countries. The workshops are part of the pilot project ‘European Hub for Civic Engagement’ (EHCE), which aims to create a platform for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and best practices at the intersection of civil society, digital technology, and politics. During the workshops, we developed concrete features that such a platform could provide to further civic engagement and transnational collaboration.

The Visegrad Four has aroused the minds and hearts of political spectators and actors alike lately: From a rather innocent and inconspicuous platform for informal regional cooperation, the V4 has evolved into a perceived antithesis of the European political mainstream in recent years. Yet, is this a mere snapshot of the current state of the V4 or a lasting development? What does the future hold for the V4? And, more importantly, how can progressive forces actively shape this future? Responses of our experts at the second international roundtable on ‘Future Scenarios for the Visegrad Group’ were mixed. Yet, on one aspect there was broad agreement: It is about high time to reinvent progressive politics – both spatially and thematically.

Has the Visegrad Group turned into a unified alliance of enemies to EU integration and refugees? Not according to the experts at our roundtable. Some of them even fear a potential implosion of the group.