💡🌱How can progressive actors move from a reactive stance to a proactive strategy on climate and industry? Read the policy brief “Renewing European progressive leadership in climate, energy and industry” to find out! 📕bit.ly/RenewingEULeadership Conservative and populist forces, influenced by powerful lobbies defending entrenched economic interests, are pushing back against climate and environmental policies under the pretence of competitiveness and simplification. ➡️The climate and energy transition has been too often framed as a cost or a burden. That framing is politically self-defeating and factually wrong. The climate discussion needs to be reframed to show that the transition is already underway and offers concrete benefits. ❗️It is time to develop a renewed and inspiring eco-social leadership that weaves climate action, social protection and economic prosperity into a forward-looking vision. A clear agenda for delivery is essential and must focus on investing in people, climate resilience, electrification and investment. 🤝 By FEPS, in collaboration with @FESJustClimate

⚡ 🇪🇺Electrification is the foundation of a competitive and decarbonised European economy. At the #PolicyConference 2026, the 2nd panel discusses how Europe can accelerate electrification whilst protecting households and EU consumers. Watch the panel: 📺 bit.ly/SustainableEUSovereig… #Electrification is the most efficient pathway to reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuel markets for industry, buildings and transport, and deliver energy sovereignty. Yet, despite growing renewable electricity generation, many households and businesses continue to face high electricity prices, and even disproportionately taxed compared to fossil fuels in some member states. ❓How can the EU adequately implement electrification without it being perceived as a burden rather than a golden opportunity? With expert scene-setting by Frauke Thies, Director Europe, @AgoraEW, and insights from: 👉 Nicolás González Casares @nicogoncas, MEP, S&D 👉 Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, @industriAll_EU 👉 Nicola Rega, Executive Director Climate Change and Energy, @Cefic 👉 Chloé Deffet, Policy Analyst, Climate FEPS 👉 Stephan Thalhofer, Policy advisor on Just Industrial Transition, @FESJustClimate 🤝 By FEPS, in partnership with @FESJustClimate. @FES_Europa, @etuc_ces, @industriAll_EU and Solidar

📕 At the #PolicyConference 2026, the 2nd panel discussed how the EU can finance outside of its own resources - learn how. Read the policy study “How can Europe’s missing middle be financed? Translating Chinese lessons for scaling #Industrial innovation” bit.ly/InnovationScaleUp_EU Europe spent decades looking to the USA, seeking to replicate the “Silicon Valley” effect. 🇺🇸 Yet Europe’s key export sector is not digital technology but manufacturing, and manufacturing innovation needs a different kind of finance to scale up than digital innovation does. Instead of looking at the USA, the policy study turns to China, the world’s largest industrial economy and, recently, its biggest source of industrial superscalers. It first unpacks China’s approach to deploying innovative and modular forms of state-directed government venture capital, particularly through its government guidance funds.🇨🇳 The policy study then turns to the EU, proposing a range of measures: 🤝 Strengthen coordination from the EU to the regional level, to reduce fragmentation of funding instruments 🎯Focus effort on select sectors where Europe can realistically become or remain a world leader, since the EU cannot match China’s amount of capital 🎓Create a stronger connection between universities and public venture capital to ensure the effective commercialisation of research 🔁Leverage the capital of state-owned enterprises for scale-up financing ✍️ Written by Cornel Ban @cornelban73 🤝 Part of the EU Investment Capacity Group, an initiative by FEPS, in collaboration with @FES_Europa.

💰🔴 WATCH: At the #PolicyConference 2026, the 1st panel discusses how the EU can implement more ambitious spending and financing of priorities via resources outside of the EU budget. bit.ly/SustainableEUSovereig… This session discusses these instruments and the role of the #EuropeanCompetitivenessFund in coordinating them. This new, ambitious design should serve both money mobilisation purposes and the fostering of a sustainable and sovereign EU economy. 🇪🇺 "Beyond the EU budget: innovative public investment instruments for sustainability and innovation scale-up" includes speakers: 👉 @MattEcke, MEP, S&D 👉 @LudovicVoet, Confederal Secretary, @etuc_ces 👉Anna Krzyzanowska, Adviser, Startups and Scale-ups, DG RTD, European Commission 👉Dora Piroska, Associate Professor, Central European University 👉 Anna Kolesnichenko @a_kolesn, Policy Analyst, Economy, FEPS 👉 Jonathan Schnock, Policy Officer Economic & Digital Policy, Social Europe, FES 🤝 By FEPS, in partnership with @FESJustClimate, @FES_Europa, @etuc_ces, @industriAll_EU and Solidar

🔴 TUNE IN to our live coverage of @TeresaRibera and @SDDecleve at the 2026 Policy Conference: Towards a sustainable European sovereignty! This conversation kicks off two days of in-depth policy discussions with policymakers, trade unionists, industry and civil society representatives on: 🔋Energy independence and affordability 💰The next Multiannual Financial Framework 🤖 The social-democratic agenda for AI in the labour market A few days after the State of the Union and with the current EU legislative term dominated by deregulation and a narrow perspective on competitiveness, the 2026 Policy Conference is a call to action to advance an agenda for a European sovereignty that serves people and the planet. Speakers 🔸Teresa Ribera @Teresaribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition 🔸Sandrine Dixson-Declève @SDDecleve, Honorary President of the Club of Rome and Executive Chair of Earth4All 🔸Isabelle Schömann @IsaSchoemann, Deputy Secretary General, @etuc_ces 🔸László Andor @LaszloAndorEU, Secretary General, FEPS 🔸Dave Keating @DaveKeating, Journalist, France 24 🔸Richard Probst @ProbstRichard, Director, FES Just Climate 🔸Matthias Ecke @MattEcke, MEP, S&D 🔸Ludovic Voet @LudovicVoet, Confederal Secretary, ETUC 🔸Anna Krzyzanowska @AKrzyzanowska, Adviser, Startups and Scale-ups, DG RTD, European Commission 🔸Dóra Piroska, Associate Professor, @ceu 🔸Anna Kolesnichenko @a_kolesn, Policy Analyst on Economy, FEPS 🔸Jonathan Schnock, Policy Officer on Economic and Digital Policy, FES 🔸Frauke Thies, Director Europe, Agora Energiewende 🔸Nicolás González Casares @nicogoncas, MEP, S&D 🔸Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, @industriAll_EU 🔸 Nicola Rega, Executive Director Climate Change and Energy, CEFIC 🔸Chloé Deffet, Policy Analyst on Climate and Environment, FEPS 🔸Stephan Thalhofer @StefanThalhofer, Policy Advisor at FES Just Climate 🔸Dragos Adascalitei @d_adascalitei, Research Officer, @eurofound 🔸Zuzanna Warso, Director of Research, Open Future Foundation 🔸Eva King, EU Representative of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour 🔸Isabelle Barthes, Deputy Secretary General, IndustriAll 🔸Justin Nogarede @JNogarede, Senior Policy Analyst, FES Future of Work 🔸Mariam Asghari @mariamasghari, Secretary General, @YESocialists 🔸François Balate, Policy Analyst on Social, FEPS 📣 The European Union must reaffirm the ambition of its own project, rooted in social justice, climate and biodiversity protection and fair digital innovation 🤝 By FEPS, in partnership with @FESonline, @etuc_ces, @industriAll_EU and Solidar youtube.com/live/n7gLxnPYifk…

🇪🇺 Join Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera and other high-level speakers TOMORROW at the Policy Conference to discuss how to build a sustainable European sovereignty that serves people and the planet. Register now! ⤵︎ bit.ly/SustainableEUSovereig… The EU must reaffirm its commitment to its social and climate ambitions. Supporting a sustainable European sovereignty is not an end in itself: it is a means to a better quality of life for all. ➞ With the current EU legislative term dominated by deregulation and a narrow perspective on competitiveness, the Policy Conference will be a call to action to define and advance an agenda for a European sovereignty that serves people and the planet. In these times of recurring disruptions, a sustainable European sovereignty can be built by breaking away from fossil-fuel dependence, protecting citizens' and workers' rights, and investing purposefully in economic activities suited to a healthy, climate-neutral future. This conference will focus on key issues, including: 🔋Energy independence and affordability 💰The next Multiannual Financial Framework 🤖 The social-democratic agenda for AI in the labour market Speakers include 🔸Teresa Ribera @Teresaribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition 🔸Sandrine Dixson-Declève @SDDecleve, Honorary President of the Club of Rome and Executive Chair of Earth4All 🔸Isabelle Schömann @IsaSchoemann, Deputy Secretary General, @etuc_ces 🔸László Andor @LaszloAndorEU, Secretary General, FEPS 🔸Dave Keating @DaveKeating, Journalist, France 24 🔸Richard Probst @ProbstRichard, Director, FES Just Climate 🔸Matthias Ecke @MattEcke, MEP, S&D 🔸Ludovic Voet @LudovicVoet, Confederal Secretary, ETUC 🔸Anna Krzyzanowska @AKrzyzanowska, Adviser, Startups and Scale-ups, DG RTD, European Commission 🔸Dóra Piroska, Associate Professor, @ceu 🔸Anna Kolesnichenko @a_kolesn, Policy Analyst on Economy, FEPS 🔸Jonathan Schnock, Policy Officer on Economic and Digital Policy, FES 🔸Frauke Thies, Director Europe, Agora Energiewende 🔸Nicolás González Casares @nicogoncas, MEP, S&D 🔸Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, @industriAll_EU 🔸 Nicola Rega, Executive Director Climate Change and Energy, CEFIC 🔸Chloé Deffet, Policy Analyst on Climate and Environment, FEPS 🔸Stephan Thalhofer @StefanThalhofer, Policy Advisor at FES Just Climate 🔸Dragos Adascalitei @d_adascalitei, Research Officer, @eurofound 🔸Zuzanna Warso, Director of Research, Open Future Foundation 🔸Vickie Dekocker @VickieDekocker, Senior Expert, Agoria 🔸Eva King, EU Representative of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour 🔸Isabelle Barthes, Deputy Secretary General, IndustriAll 🔸Justin Nogarede @JNogarede, Senior Policy Analyst, FES Future of Work 🔸Mariam Asghari @mariamasghari, Secretary General, @YESocialists 🔸François Balate, Policy Analyst on Social, FEPS 📣 The European Union must reaffirm the ambition of its own project, rooted in social justice, climate and biodiversity protection, and fair digital innovation 🤝 By FEPS, in partnership with @FESonline, @etuc_ces, @industriAll_EU and SOLIDAR

🤖 This year’s #SOTEU positions AI as a defining tipping point. Join next week’s Policy Conference panel "AI, work and the future: elements for a pro-worker agenda" to discuss how the EU can pursue technological autonomy while ensuring sustainable social outcomes for workers. Register now! 👇 bit.ly/SustainableEUSovereig… The EU depends on the US, which operates on the belief that the relentless rollout of AI across the economy will bring productivity gains and geopolitical advantage that ultimately benefit American workers. But that story is unravelling. As the negative effects become clear, backlash is growing, with US politicians calling for data centre moratoriums and for an AI sovereign wealth fund to redistribute the profits. 🇺🇸 A sustainable AI transition requires active labour market policies and a political response. Yet the EU has no credible answer. The AI Act is not a labour law, offers workers only limited rights and has already been partly weakened by the AI Omnibus. Nothing currently on the table combines the drive for technological autonomy with sustainable social outcomes that benefit labour. → Taxation, social conditionality and worker protections are the preconditions for sustainable productivity growth and sovereignty. Speakers will include 🔸 Dragos Adascalitei @d_adascalitei, Research Officer, @Eurofound 🔸 Zuzanna Warso, Director of Research, Open Future Foundation 🔸 Vickie Dekocker (PhD) @VickieDekocker, Senior Expert, Agoria 🔸 Eva King, EU Representative of the AK Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour 🔸 Justin Nogarede, Senior Policy Analyst, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Competence Centre on the Future of Work By FEPS, in collaboration with @FESonline, @etuc_ces, @industriAll_EU and SOLIDAR & SOLIDAR+.