Countries: Germany

Katharina Bohnenberger

PhD candidate University of Duisburg-Essen

Interests : Climate Economy
Countries : Germany

Katharina Bohnenberger is an Ecological Economist at the Institute for Socio-Economics (University of Duisburg-Essen) and consults as a policy advisor on topics like the just transition, green recovery and sustainable welfare. She has an academic background in Economics, Social Policy, Philosophy and Environmental Studies and has been working on sustainable digitalization for the Wuppertal Institute and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Her PhD is on Sustainable Welfare, a rising research field that analyses the integration of social and environmental policies and develops strategies to make welfare states resilient and in line with climate protection targets. 

A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion

Working Groups
Remote Work

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.

Read the paper:
A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion

Political Mentor: S&D MEP Brando Benifei
Academic Mentor: Stewart Wood (Lord Wood of Anfield), Chair of the United Nations Association – UK

Members
Publications
09/02/2022

A Progressive Framework for Remote Working: Fairness, Sustainability and Digital Inclusion

Dominic Afscharian

PhD candidate Tübingen University

Interests : Democracy Economy Migration Social Europe
Countries : Germany

Dominic Afscharian is a research officer and Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Political Science of the University of Tübingen. He holds degrees in political science and economics, received his previous academic training at Heidelberg University, and has worked with think tanks, consultancies, and academic institutions in the past. Specialising in mixed-methods public policy analysis, he primarily focuses on European social policy. Beyond conducting analyses of this subject in and of itself, he also considers its intersections with other policy fields along with national social policy, particularly in Germany. At the University of Tübingen, he is currently completing his dissertation on different visions of a “Social Europe”. In his further research, he engaged amongst other things with issues such as migration, labour market policy, European crises, and welfare state performance on various interdisciplinary and international projects. For FEPS and the Renner Institut, he explored progressive perspectives on a European Universal Basic Income. Finally, he worked as a FEPS YAN ambassador, researching challenges and solutions around democratic resilience for FEPS and for the Progressive Alliance.

The European Basic Income

Working Groups
European Basic Income

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.

Read the paper:
The European Basic Income

Political Mentor: S&D MEP Agnes Jongerius
Academic Mentor: Lorena Lombardozzi, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Open University.

Members
Publications
08/11/2022

Building resilient democracies

Challenges and solutions across the globe
31/08/2022

Mental health and suicide during the pandemic Series

Policy Briefs series
25/01/2022

The European Basic Income – Delivering on Social Europe