Brussels Democracy Dialogue 2025

How can European democracies deliver better?

Many voters seem willing to put economic benefits ahead of democratic norms and principles. This has been abused by many authoritarian-minded actors, who have secured their grasp on power by providing their constituents with monetary transfers. By contrast, progressive actors' speeches about a long-term struggle against economic inequality seem both too abstract and inadequate to many voters. Speakers Anil Duman from the Central European University, Jeroen Beirnaert, International Trade Union Confederation, and Tarik Abou-Chadi from the University of Oxford explored what a social democratic vision for better economic governance could look like.

Rethinking (social) democracy: where can we find a new democratic vision? 

Trump and the tech oligarchs appear to be in the process of tearing down the world’s oldest democracy and encouraging autocratically inclined leaders around the world to copy them. In Europe, far-right parties are encouraged by a feeling that we are shifting towards a society and system in which checks and balances, a rules-based order and participation no longer feature. In general, people seem open to systemic disruption and fundamental change. The final session therefore invited participants to look ahead and consider where a new democratic vision might emerge. Evin Incir MEP, Thamy Pogrebinschi, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Alberto Alemanno from HEC Paris / Harvard University, and Anja Neundorf from the University of Glasgow discussed how pluralistic and liberal democracies might be revitalised through bold, transnational cooperation and innovative thinking.