Sections: Alumni

Mihail Caradaica

Lecturer, University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest

Interests : Democracy
Countries : Romania

Mihail Caradaica is a Lecturer in European Studies at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest. Since 2019 he is the coordinator of The Democratic Left Foundation, designing and implementing progressive projects. One of the most relevant projects he implemented for the foundation consisted in coordinating a book entitled: “The Left and the Romanian Social Agenda” a progressive collection of articles from leftist Romanian thinkers.

Regarding his experience in the political field, Mihail Caradaica worked between 2015 and 2016 as a Political Adviser of the Chamber of Deputies President, between 2016 and 2017 as a Political Adviser for MEP Office of Victor Negrescu, and today is a member of PES activists, as vice-president of PES Bucharest.

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

Publications
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

João Albuquerque

PhD candidate PIDUHIST programme (Portugal)

Interests : Democracy Foreign Affairs
Countries : Portugal

Former President of YES - Young European Socialists. João is currently working as an advisor to MEP Pedro Silva Pereira in his role as VP of the European Parliament. He enrolled in the PIDUHIST programme - PhD Programme in History - Change and continuity in a global world, by University of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, University of Évora and Catholic University of Lisbon.

Master in History, Defence and International Relations, on "Humanitarian Intervention Law - The Genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda", by ISCTE-IUL and the Portuguese Military Academy. Degree in Political Science and International Relations by the New University of Lisbon.

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

Publications
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
04/08/2025

Next Left Vol. 16

The Progressive Compass
09/02/2022

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

08/03/2018

The EU, Resilience and the MENA Region

Christian Koutny

PhD candidate Kingston University London

Interests : Economy Social Europe
Countries : United Kingdom Austria

Christian is a PhD student in economics at Kingston University London. He completed his BSc in economics at the Vienna University for Business and Economics and his MA in Political Economy at Kingston University London. He is interested in heterodox (neo-Kaleckian) macroeconomics and Marxist Political Economy. His research is both empirical and theoretical, although with an emphasis on the theoretical argument. Empirically, he specialises in simple time-series econometrics. Christian teaches economics and statistics at SOAS University and Goldsmiths University, respectively. In his previous FEPS YAN cycle he worked on the European Pillar of Social Rights. Christian is a member of the Labour Party, several trade unions, and some more grass roots organisations.

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Publications
European Investment Bank

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.

Read the paper:
How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

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.

Members
Publications
25/01/2022

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Marius S. Ostrowski

Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence

Interests : Democracy
Countries : Germany United Kingdom

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.

The European Basic Income

Publications
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
01/03/2024

Next Left Vol. 15

Progressive Ambition: How to shape Europe in the next decade
08/11/2022

Building resilient democracies

Challenges and solutions across the globe
27/09/2022

Enduring values

How progressives across Europe can win
25/01/2022

The European Basic Income – Delivering on Social Europe

Hendrik Theine

Post-doctoral researcher at the Vienna University

Interests : Climate Economy
Countries : Austria Germany

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. 

Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

Photo: @PamelaRußmann

Publications
EU 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.

Read the paper:
Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

Political Mentor: S&D MEP Delara Burkhardt
Academic Mentor: Robert Ladrech, Emeritus Professor of European Politics, Keele University, UK

Members
Publications
25/01/2022

Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

Oscar Soons

PhD candidate University of Amsterdam

Interests : Economy
Countries : Netherlands

Oscar is a PhD candidate in the Finance Group of the University of Amsterdam. In his research he studies the economics of the European Monetary Union and financial stability implications of central bank digital currency. Other research interests are financial regulation, banking and macro finance.

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Publications
European Investment Bank

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.

Read the paper:
How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

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.

Members
Publications
25/01/2022

How to unlock the European Investment Bank’s potential: four reforms

Lukáš Siegel

PhD candidate University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava

Interests : Social Europe
Countries : Hungary Slovakia

Lukáš Siegel holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava and political science from Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts. His primary focus is on different ethical theories, the concept of human rights, issues of discrimination, stigma, and prejudices. He recently earned PhD in philosophy focusing on discrimination against people with disabilities with a special interest in different models of disability.

The European Basic Income

Publications
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
25/01/2022

The European Basic Income – Delivering on Social Europe

23/04/2018

Global Challenges and their impact in the Middle East

Stine Quorning

PhD candidate Copenhagen Business School

Interests : Democracy Economy Climate
Countries : Denmark

Stine Quorning is a PhD student at the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School where she works within the field of International Political Economy, specializing in economic governance. Her research project looks into the role of central banks in sustainable finance, with a primary focus on the ECB and the Bank of England. Working at the intersection of political, sociological and economic theory her research aims to understand the policies that central banks put in place to address climate change, and how central banks seek to make climate change governable. Stine is a co-author along with Jakob Vestergaard of the FEPS policy paper “The ECB’s half-baked supervision mandate or, how to get serious about shadow banking again”. 

Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

Publications
EU 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.

Read the paper:
Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

Political Mentor: S&D MEP Delara Burkhardt
Academic Mentor: Robert Ladrech, Emeritus Professor of European Politics, Keele University, UK

Members
Publications
25/01/2022

Taking the temperature of the EU Green Deal

10/09/2019

Establishing a European Financial Supervision Authority

João Pinto

Ph.D. candidate University of Minho

Interests : Democracy Social Europe
Countries : Portugal

João Mourato Pinto is graduated in International Relations from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and holds a master’s degree in International Relations – European Studies from both this university and Sciences Po Bordeaux (France). Currently, João Pinto is a Professor of diplomacy and a Ph.D. candidate based at the University of Minho studying the European Union as a global actor, especially towards Brazil and South America. He was a member of a research project on the EU's Strategic Partnerships funded by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) and has worked at the European Research Council (European Commission). Additionally, he is a former President of the Erasmus Student Network (2017-2019), where he has worked to increase access to and the quality of higher education student exchanges worldwide. João Pinto is a member of the Research Center in Political Science at the University of Minho and collaborates with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies. His main research interests are EU external action, Brazilian foreign policy, South American regionalism, public diplomacy, and democratic participation and citizenship in the EU.

Three ideas for a stronger Social Europe in a post-COVID-19 recovery

Publications
Social Europe

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

Members
Alvaro Oleart

Post-doctoral researcher Maastricht University

Interests : Democracy
Countries : Belgium Netherlands Spain

Alvaro Oleart is a post-doctoral researcher at the at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University, and a scientific collaborator at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He is the author of the book Framing TTIP in the European public spheres: Towards an Empowering Dissensus for EU integration (2021), published by the series Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. His fields of interest are the European public sphere,  the role of civil society in the EU policy-making, EU trade policy, populism and democracy in Europe, and the analysis of discourse and narratives.

Citizens’ Europe – An institutional turn for an ever-democratic union?

Publications
Future of Europe

The paper outlines a vision of the ongoing Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) from various perspectives and sets out proposals regarding how it should develop in order to contribute to making the EU more democratic. First, the paper discusses further steps the Conference should take towards bridging the gap between EU and national politics.

Second, the paper analyses previous initiatives of treaty reforms which may be incorporated into the Conference on the Future of Europe. Third, the paper lays out the visions of Europe in a half-century’s time among EU Commission officials. Last, the paper discusses citizens’ involvement in shaping EU future through a broader process of European deliberative democracy, and how the CoFoE could advance such a perspective.

Read the paper:
Citizens’ Europe - An institutional turn for an ever-democratic union?

Political Mentor: S&D MEP Domènec Ruiz Devesa
Academic Mentor: Michael Holms, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Liverpool Hope University

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yHIayD_W1-s
Members
Publications
29/01/2026

Progressive Yearbook 2026

13/12/2024

The great countdown

A guide on how to arrive prepared for the European elections 2029
28/03/2022

Citizens’ Europe - An institutional turn for an ever-democratic union?

FEPS YAN