TEPSA’s biannual Pre-Presidency Conferences (PPC) have, since their inception, brought together academics and researchers from the broad TEPSA network, policy-makers, media and civil society in order to discuss the agenda and challenges of the upcoming Council Presidencies.

To discuss the aims and priorities of the Polish Presidency, which holds the reins in the Council for the first semester of 2025, as well as to explore crucial policy areas that need attention in the EU, TEPSA travelled to Warsaw to host the Polish PPC: “Securing Europe’s Future”. You can learn more about the conference here.

As part of the conference, the ActEU project organised a panel discussion entitled “EU Democracy Renewal: Addressing the Pressures on Representative Democracy in Europe”. The panel took place on site at the University of Warsaw on 21 November 2024, and featured expert insights from:

• Daniela Braun, Saarland University & ActEU Scientific Lead;
• Krzysztof Izdebski, Batory Foundation;
• Marzenna Guz-Vetter, Team Europe Direct & former Director of the European Commission Representation in Poland;
• Mikołaj Cześnik, SWPS University;
• Petr Kratochvíl (moderator), Institute of International Relations.

Watch the full panel recording:

How can we conceptualise and empirically measure political trust and legitimacy beyond the usual survey question “How much trust do you have in the parliament?”? Does the multi-level nature of European representative democracies require an identical level of citizen support at the regional, national and EU level? How is social polarisation on key policy issues of our times –immigration, climate change, and gender inequality– challenging political trust in and legitimacy of democratic political systems? And what can policymakers and civil society do to master these challenges? ActEU aims at findings answers to these questions pursuing two overarching goals: by mapping and investigating persistent problems of declining trust, legitimacy and representation in Europe, and by crafting tailor-made toolkits for political and civil society actors, school teachers and university lecturers to deal with issues of declining political trust in representative democracies in flux and counteract a further decrease.