Day of Progressive Economic Policy 2024

Congress | 20 March 2024 in Berlin and online

Circumstances have changed significantly for progressive economic policy in Germany, Europe and the world. The economic and growth models of European economies need to be adapted to the new reality.

What are the economic effects of continuing inflation, the ongoing war in Ukraine and geopolitical shifts at German, European and global level? Will the comprehensive recovery packages be followed by a strict austerity policy? What kind of economic policy is needed to reduce inequality, ensure decent jobs and actively foster climate neutrality?

The Day of Progressive Economic Policy 2024, organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, in cooperation with FEPS, IMK, Fiscal Future and DGB, provided a platform for discussing these questions and broadened the scope for progressive economic policy. We had an intensive high-level debate on Thinking Economics Forward.

Click here for more information regarding this event.

FEPS panel on economic democracy:

As an event partner, FEPS ran a panel, ‘Economic democracy to foster regional transformation‘, moderated by Anna Kolesnichenko, FEPS Policy Analyst, and involving Dr. Andrew Cumbers, the lead researcher at the FEPS project  Economic Democracy.

Panel focus:

It has become evident that the economic model we have built is not working for people and the planet. The incumbent economic power holders are not going to be the drivers of change. Transformation of the economy requires a democratic process that would build up the power of social stakeholders and citizens at large. In this panel, we explored the local/regional dimension of this transformation. We looked at models and tools of democratising public services, re-municipalisation and building local wellbeing economy.  Particular emphasis was on the process of transformation, looking at the issue of power mobilisation and sharing: who can drive such transformation, what are the obstacles and how to overcome them.

Leading questions for discussion:

• What are the forms and tools of local economic democracy – examples?
• What opportunities does economic democracy offer for regional rejuvenation and transformation? What are its limits/ drawbacks?
• Who should drive the democratic process? Who are relevant stakeholders?
• What capacity is needed for democratizing regional economic processes and how to build this capacity?  

Discussion participants:

• Dr. Andrew Cumbers – Professor of Political Economy, the University of Glasgow
• Lavinia Steinfort – Project Coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI) 
• Robert Drewnicki – Project Manager, ReTraNetz Berlin-Brandenburg
• Moderator: Anna Kolesnichenko – Policy Analyst, FEPS