Dennis Gottschlich is a doctoral researcher in Economics at the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE). His broad research interests include labor economics, future of work and unintended side-effects of competition on workers. He is an applied empirical microeconomist and focus on mental health, social mobility and social capital. Currently he studies economic determinants of mental illnesses, and more general, in psychological distress. He is on deepen the knowledge in this fields to improve policies and highlight the importance of this underresearcherd topic mental health. His current research focuses on the nexus between austerity measures and depressions.
Chiara was always driven by curiosity and interest in research, during her education in Rome, Paris, Frankfurt and Melbourne. Chiara obtained in 2016 a Bachelor in Economics and Business and, in 2019, a Master’s degree in Economics and Finance, together with a second international excellence master called QTEM (Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management), with a final dissertation about the impact of flexicurity on Managerial practices. Workwise, she has been intern in various institutions, was an analyst at the ECB and it is currently working as a Research Support Officer at Eurofound, the agency of the European Union for improving working and living conditions.
Niklas Kossow is a researcher, political activist and project manager from Berlin. He recently defended his PhD on the use of digital technologies in the context of anti-corruption movements at the Hertie School. During his PhD, Niklas also worked as a researcher and consultant for Transparency International, the GIZ, the UNDP and Freedom House. Currently, Niklas is working as a project manager at CityLAB Berlin where is working redeveloping Berlin’s Smart City strategy and citizen participation projects. He is a candidate of the German Social Democratic Party for the Berlin state parliamentary elections 2021.
This policy study focuses on trade union approaches to the multiple crises in a sector critical for the sustainability transformation: aviation. Based on empirical research, the authors find that unions, under pressure to face contradictory and complex problems, take divergent positions on societal-environmental issues and their solutions - verging from social-ecological transformation-focused to defensive stances, also in their collaboration with social movements for change.
Political Mentor: EP Vice President and S&D MEP Evelyn Regner Academic Mentor: David Bailey, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and International Studies, School of Government, University of Birmingham
Johannes G. v. Luckner is a doctoral researcher in law at University of Erfurt in Germany. Born and raised in Germany, he studied law in Frankfurt (Main), Rome and Florence. His professional experience is spread out over various areas, ranging teaching in a high school during a voluntary service in Panama, over diplomacy in the German Foreign Office (Embassy to Italy, Rome) to European politics in the European Commission (DG Justice, Criminal Law).
In his PhD, he works on differentiation in European law, especially on the enhanced cooperation mechanism.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the EU’s multilateral development bank. In this FEPS YAN policy study, the authors suggest four reforms that would help progressive policymakers to utilize unlock the EIB’s potential to play a greater role in the EU economy and its transition to a more resilient, climate-neutral, and progressive economy.
First, the authors suggest the EIB adopts more comprehensive lending targets based on social and environmental criteria. Second, they highlight the need for a stronger focus on equity-like instruments rather than debt instruments, especially in the ongoing response to the Covid-19 crisis. Third, they propose to strengthen the EIB’s accountability towards the European Parliament to ensure a legitimate political direction and democratic control of its activities. Fourth, they propose to convert the EIB’s retained profits into paid-in capital, unlocking up to €110 billion of additional lending capacity. To simultaneously accomplish increased democratic accountability, the authors suggest converting the EIB’s retained profits into EU capital and thus making the EU an EIB shareholder.
Political Mentor: EP Vice President and S&D MEP Pedro Silva Pereira Academic Mentor: Carlo d' Ippoliti, Associate professor of political economy at the Department of Statistical Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome.
Marius S. Ostrowski is Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and was previously Examination Fellow in Politics at All Souls College, University of Oxford. His interests lie in the theory and history of social democracy and European unification, and his publications include Left Unity: Manifesto for a Progressive Alliance (2020) and the edited series of the Collected Works by the socialist thinker Eduard Bernstein (2018-). He is Online and Social Media Editor of the Journal of Political Ideologies, and Founding Editor of its affiliated blog Ideology Theory Practice.
Across the political spectrum, there is widespread agreement that the European Union (EU) needs a palpable social dimension. In this FEPS YAN policy study, the authors provide a research-driven policy proposal on how this social dimension can be achieved in the light of the diversity of national welfare systems in the EU.
They argue that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) could be a conceptually appealing policy to be implemented at EU level, complementing national welfare states. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the policy is receiving unprecedented and ever-increasing attention, and enjoys widespread public popularity, but is viewed with scepticism by major political parties.
This paper is a unified source of information for progressive policymakers, advocates, consultants, and researchers who are interested in (a) how a European UBI could be concretely designed and (b) the reasoning and justifications behind its concrete design decisions. In order to formulate a policy proposal that could potentially foster cross- partisan compromises and move public policy preferences and political reality closer together, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of historical and contemporary UBI debates, gathered the key arguments presented in academic, popular, political, and organisational sources, and reflected on them from logical, normative, and empirical perspectives.
Based on the most plausible arguments for and against a UBI, they designed a concrete policy proposal for a UBI at the EU level that responds to broadly progressive ideals from different partisan backgrounds. The result is an ambitious yet feasible proposal that bridges political divides and, if implemented, would be the most substantial leap for Social Europe yet.
Hendrik Theine is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Heterodox Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business with extensive interest in progressive economic approaches. His current research involves critical political economy analyses in the areas of media, platform capitalism and climate change. Based on a pluralist perspective, he uses both qualitative and quantitative methods, for instance, discourse analysis, text mining and network analysis.
The European Green Deal (EGD) aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050 while ensuring a just transition for all. However, the EGD’s high level of ambition and broad scope is not adequately reflected in member states’ commitments, and interest groups attempt to shape the EGD according to their preferences.
Given these circumstances, how can the promise of a green and just European Green Deal be realised? To shed light on this research question, the authors of this FEPS YAN Policy Study build on insights from political economy on the influence of interest groups in policymaking. Analytically, the authors propose a framework that integrates distinct sources of power (structural vis-à-vis instrumental) and a range of political strategies (quiet vis-à-vis noisy politics).
Empirically, they study two cases central to the EGD: the ‘EU Biodiversity Diversity Strategy for 2030’ to protect nature and ecosystems; and the ‘Hydrogen Strategy’ to power a climate-neutral economy. Based on lobbying activities with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament, the authors identify key stakeholders, their framing, and strategies. The findings have important implications for understanding the interplay of relevant actors and EU institutions and their influence on European policy.
Emre Gömeç is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kassel and a Ph.D. fellow of Hans Böckler Foundation in Germany. Also, he is a researcher at The Academic-Industry Research Network (theAIRnet) in the United States. His research fields are financialization, corporate governance, and innovation as well as the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. He compares the corporate governance models of two telecommunication companies, Nokia and Ericsson, as a case study in his dissertation.
Through its eclectic 20 principles, the European Pillar of Social Rights is an opportunity to break silos and look at social development as the network of challenges that it truly is.
Departing from the rather long history of European social rights, the implementation of the EPSR must follow a holistic approach, identifying synergies with discussions it already hints at in its 20 principles.
In order to contribute to the identification of such synergies, this paper attempts to shed light on three transversal issues that national governments and the European Commission must bear in mind when implementing the EPSR: civil rights; labour relations; and gender equality. The analysis departs from the setting of the current model of welfare state in post-World War II Europe and it ends with the Porto Summit 2021, reflecting on the documents approved and what they can mean for a post-COVID-19 Social Europe.
Political Mentor: YES Vice President and S&D MEP Alicia Homs Academic Mentor: Matjaz Nahtigal, Associate professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Dr. Thomas Froehlich is a research fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's College London. His work focuses on the geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, but he is also interested in "how to get things done" in international politics. Thomas holds a Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Munich and a PhD in International Relations from King's College London, where he examined Brazil's international ethanol strategy. Thomas also works as a political risk adviser and a grassroots political organizer.
The European Green Deal (EGD) aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050 while ensuring a just transition for all. However, the EGD’s high level of ambition and broad scope is not adequately reflected in member states’ commitments, and interest groups attempt to shape the EGD according to their preferences.
Given these circumstances, how can the promise of a green and just European Green Deal be realised? To shed light on this research question, the authors of this FEPS YAN Policy Study build on insights from political economy on the influence of interest groups in policymaking. Analytically, the authors propose a framework that integrates distinct sources of power (structural vis-à-vis instrumental) and a range of political strategies (quiet vis-à-vis noisy politics).
Empirically, they study two cases central to the EGD: the ‘EU Biodiversity Diversity Strategy for 2030’ to protect nature and ecosystems; and the ‘Hydrogen Strategy’ to power a climate-neutral economy. Based on lobbying activities with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament, the authors identify key stakeholders, their framing, and strategies. The findings have important implications for understanding the interplay of relevant actors and EU institutions and their influence on European policy.
Timon Forster is a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at the Berlin Graduate School for Global and Transregional Studies, Freie Universität Berlin. His research interests include international political economy, deliberation, the distributional consequences of economic reforms, and global public health. In the FEPS YAN, he is studying the politics of the European Green Deal.
The European Green Deal (EGD) aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050 while ensuring a just transition for all. However, the EGD’s high level of ambition and broad scope is not adequately reflected in member states’ commitments, and interest groups attempt to shape the EGD according to their preferences.
Given these circumstances, how can the promise of a green and just European Green Deal be realised? To shed light on this research question, the authors of this FEPS YAN Policy Study build on insights from political economy on the influence of interest groups in policymaking. Analytically, the authors propose a framework that integrates distinct sources of power (structural vis-à-vis instrumental) and a range of political strategies (quiet vis-à-vis noisy politics).
Empirically, they study two cases central to the EGD: the ‘EU Biodiversity Diversity Strategy for 2030’ to protect nature and ecosystems; and the ‘Hydrogen Strategy’ to power a climate-neutral economy. Based on lobbying activities with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament, the authors identify key stakeholders, their framing, and strategies. The findings have important implications for understanding the interplay of relevant actors and EU institutions and their influence on European policy.
Fabian Ferrari is a PhD candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute. His PhD thesis examines the political economy of artificial intelligence. Fabian holds an MSc in Politics and Communication from the London School of Economics and a BA in Social Sciences from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Fabian is also a researcher at the Fairwork Foundation, an international action-research project that is working to analyse and improve pay and conditions for platform workers across the world.
This policy brief is an attempt to sketch out the baselines of a new progressive approach towards remote work. An approach that fosters social justice. An approach that takes seriously the promises and perils of digital transformation. Crucially, an approach that is compatible with ecological boundaries. In other words, the fact that proximity does not seem to play as big a role in shaping our world of work as it used to play does not have to go hand in hand with the erosion of workers’ rights. It does not have to exacerbate the worst excesses of digital capitalism. And it does not have to compound the destruction of the planet. These drawbacks are outcomes of political choices – not of natural laws. They are not inevitable.
Across three strategic levels, the policy proposals illustrate that progressives all across Europe have powerful strategies and tools at their disposal to prevent these outcomes: information; institutions; and labour law.
Through its eclectic 20 principles, the European Pillar of Social Rights is an opportunity to break silos and look at social development as the network of challenges that it truly is.
Departing from the rather long history of European social rights, the implementation of the EPSR must follow a holistic approach, identifying synergies with discussions it already hints at in its 20 principles.
In order to contribute to the identification of such synergies, this paper attempts to shed light on three transversal issues that national governments and the European Commission must bear in mind when implementing the EPSR: civil rights; labour relations; and gender equality. The analysis departs from the setting of the current model of welfare state in post-World War II Europe and it ends with the Porto Summit 2021, reflecting on the documents approved and what they can mean for a post-COVID-19 Social Europe.
Read the Paper:
Three ideas for a stronger Social Europe in a post- Covid 19 recovery
Political Mentor: YES Vice President and S&D MEP Alicia Homs
Academic Mentor: Matjaz Nahtigal, Associate professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana