FEPS Talks

Michael Miebach, Chair and Co-Founder of Das Progressive Zentrum, and László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, analyse the legacy of Angela Merkel in Germany and Europe after 16 years in office: her strengths and flaws and her role in decisive episodes like the crisis of the Eurozone or the 2015 refugee crisis. Focusing on the latest developments, Miebach and Andor discuss the reasons behind the SPD...

Brikena Xhomaqi, Director of the Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP), and David Rinaldi, FEPS Director of Studies and Policy, discuss in this episode about the right to lifelong learning just after the launch of a Commission’s proposal for a Council Recommendation establishing individual learning accounts. They exchange on how to attain the ambitious EU headline target for adult participation in tra...

With more than 30 years of existence, the Erasmus programme is one greatest success of the European Union. Alfonso Aliberti, Project Officer at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EC), and François Balate, Head of Office of FEPS President, discuss about the conclusions we can draw from it and what is the next frontier to ensure that all young people have access to opportunities in...

Martin Seeleib-Kaiser, Professor of Comparative Public Policy at Tübingen University, and László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, discuss in this FEPS Talks episode important chapters of Social Europe: starting with new developments related to minimum wage. Prof Seeleib-Kaiser explains the centrality of the concept of human dignity, and the purpose of promoting minimum income schemes at EU level. Th...

In this extremely timely episode, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, MEP and former Prime Minister of Poland, talks to Ania Skrzypek, FEPS Director for Research and Training, explaining how the border tensions are instrumentalized to change the narrative in Belarus and Poland, how the rights of the migrants have to be in focus and the aid must be extended, as also how the situation requires better understan...

This edition of the #fepstalks features Samantha Smith, director of the Just Transition Centre that has been established by the International Trade Union Confederation, in conversation with Andreas Dimmelmeier, FEPS policy analyst on climate and environment. Samantha talks about the importance of coming up with and implementing just transition plans that feature contributions from social partners...

Will the EU be successful in defending democracy and rule of law? Will the conditionality mechanism be used for the first time? Is Poland to be used to make an example? Will there be a Polexit? What about Polish protesters? – these and other fundamental questions remain at the focus of this episode of the FEPS Talks, which feature This Reuten, S&D Member of the European Parliament, and Ania Skrzyp...

Guy Ryder, ILO Director General, and László Andor, FEPS Secretary General analyse in this episode the main transformative challenges in the world of work: new technology, climate change, digitalisation and aging population. The International Labour Organisation proposed innovative solutions in three different fields: people and their capacities (social protection, lifelong learning), institutions...

September 28th marks the International Safe Abortion Day. It therefore presents an opportune moment to recall how a fair and safe access to abortion constitutes a crucial condition for the respect of women’s fundamental rights and to eliminate gender discrimination. What is the importance of international solidarity for gender justice? How do we end the stigma and discrimination towards abortion?...

Dr. Hannes Swoboda, former S&D group leader in the European Parliament, and current President of the International Institute for Peace, is our special guest in the #100 FEPS Talks episode. In a conversation with Dr László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, he shares his view about the erosion and current reconstruction of social democracy, pointing to examples of revitalisation like Norway or (accordi...

Matt Duss, Foreign Policy Advisor to US Senator Bernie Sanders, joins Vassilis Ntousas, Senior International Relations Policy Advisor at FEPS, for an episode focusing on the Afghanistan withdrawal, the emerging US foreign policy doctrine under president Biden, the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and what recent developments mean for ‘the West’ and the international liberal order, and the future of transa...

Professor Thorsten Schulten, WSI Institute of Economic and Social Research at the Hans Blöcker Stiftung with Dr. David Rinaldi, FEPS Director of Studies and Policy The episode starts with a look at the consequences of the pandemic for employment and a reflection on the impact it has on wages and labour shortages. Prof. Schulten then comments on the changing attitude of national and European politi...

Following the recent resignation of the Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, professor Jenny Andersson from Science Po and Uppsala University and dr Ania Skrzypek, FEPS Director of Research and Training discuss the developments in Sweden in the context of the situation of the centre-left in Europe. Tune in to hear analysis of the last decade of the political history of Sweden and find out what the likely...

“My body, my choice” was coined as a feminist struggle setting the tone of this podcast addressing women and girls’ sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Women’s equal access to labour and their full control over their own bodies namely constitute the two core preconditions for women’s full emancipation. In fact, a woman’s power to control her own body is linked to how much control she has...

Professor Jonathan Kirshner (Boston College) and Dr László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, mark in this podcast episode the 50th anniversary of the “Nixon shock”, the day when the convertibility of the US dollar to gold was suddenly ended. They discuss how in the post-war decades great imbalances developed in the global financial system which eventually brought the Bretton Woods currency arrangemen...

Dr. Cinzia Alcidi, Director of Research and Head of the Economic Policy Unit at CEPS and Dr. David Rinaldi, FEPS Director of Studies and Policy comment on the outcomes of CEPS Task Force on New Industrial Policy and its relation with the need to boost a job-rich recovery. The conversation insists on the need to link the European industrial policy to job quality, skills and regional cohesion. In th...

For a more progressive sports model The day after the final of the UEFA European Championship 2021, Jean-Michel de Waele, Professor of Political Sciences at the ULB, joins François Balate, Head of Office of FEPS President, to analyse what is the relationship between sports, more specifically football, and politics. They reach the conclusion that a more progressive sports model is needed but they a...

Special episode with Gaute Børstad Skjervø, vice-president of AUF, Utøya attacks survivor and member of the remembrance committee

Diederik Samsom, Head of Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, in charge of the European Green Deal, talks with Saïd El Khadraoui, FEPS Special Adviser on the Green Deal, just one day after the adoption of the Fit for 55-package by the European Commission. Diederik Samsom emphasises the importance of the European Climate Law that made the EU’s commitment to make its economy climate...

Andrew Small, senior transatlantic fellow with GMF's Asia Program, joins Vassilis Ntousas, Senior International Relations Policy Advisor at FEPS, for an episode focusing on China and the evolving dynamics in the transatlantic outlook vis-à-vis Beijing

Contributing to the LGBTIQ Pride Month leading up to the international pride day (June 28th), this FEPS Talks edition features Flora Bolter (political scientist, activist and co-director of the LGBT+ observatory of the Fondation Jean-Jaurès) who engages in a conversation with Laeticia Thissen (FEPS Gender Equality Policy Analyst). After seeking to untangle the complexity of the multiple realities...

Professor Raymond Torres, Director for Macroeconomy and International Analysis of think tank Funcas, discusses with Dr László Andor, FEPS Secretary General, the need for reinforcing economic governance and fiscal capacity in the European Union to ensure that we emerge stronger from the Covid-19 recession. This would require turning the tools of economic crisis response into permanent instruments,...

In this very special episode, aired 5 years since the assassination, we commemorate Jo Cox who was an extraordinary person, a passionate activist, and an incredibly talented politician of the Labour Party. In a conversation with Baroness Jan Royall (Principal of Somerville College in Oxford) Ania Skrzypek (FEPS Director for Research and Training) discusses the meaning of “we have more in common th...

Adnan Tabatabai, CEO of CARPO, joins Vassilis Ntousas, Senior International Relations Policy Advisor at FEPS, for an episode exploring the dynamics and main players of the upcoming presidential election in Iran, the legacy of outgoing president Hassan Rouhani, and the state of play concerning the ongoing nuclear talks over the future of the JCPOA

S&D MEP and Rapporteur Christel Schaldemose and Justin Nogarede, FEPS Digital Policy Analist The crucial set of rules for online services dates from 2000. Back then, many online services were merely providing tools for users to access the web and build their own websites. And online business models were still unclear. Therefore, the EU allowed experimentation and adopted rules that largely shielde...