European integration

The figures speak for themselves: 15 years after joining the European community, 91 percent of Poles support EU membership, with only five percent against. According to 78 percent of those surveyed, the consequences are overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, 56 percent feel they are Europeans, an increase of around 13 percent compared to 2014.

The EU has lost a great deal of its standing and influence in the Western Balkans. Domestic political elites consolidate their power through ever-tightening control over civic space. Why do millions of euros in governance and civil society assistance have failed to support robust democracies? 

Center-left parties have to reinvent and reposition regarding the new world order shaped by globalization, digitalization and changing labour conditions. People expect new answers to migration, a growing life expectancy and a vision of a “modern welfare state”.

Across Europe, democracies are increasingly under pressure from right-wing parties and movements that often combine radical anti-immigrant and Islamophobic positions with populist rhetoric. Those movements differ strongly in their party programmes, ranging from Eurosceptic to overtly racist but share a disdain for the existing political institutions.