Where’s Europe in...? (2/3) Solidarity and Infrastructure

Social and ecological infrastructures form the core of our social cohesion. The pandemic has bitterly revealed many of the existing cracks in these infrastructures: whether it be hospitals, schools, concert halls, trains or the internet, the pandemic has made clear that our infrastructures are nowhere near as resilient as we would have imagined or wished them to be. One major explanation: infrastructures are expensive.

Strong social infrastructures always have a European core – a dimension that comes to the surface whenever health or pension insurance is recognized Europe-wide, when the European vaccination card allows European travel or when the European Green Deal regulates a sustainable power supply across borders.

Why are infrastructures a European issue? MEP Sven Giegold and Ellen Ueberschär will discuss these questions together:

• How relevant are social infrastructures in the context of solidarity?
• Where do we stand with regards to investment responsibility if we seek to build infrastructures to make German and European society resilient in the future?
• What do we need for the European Union to establish strong and sustainable infrastructures?

With:

• Sven Giegold, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA Group
• Dr. Ellen Ueberschär, President, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

The discussion is part of a new series "Where’s Europe in…?" that provides food for thought in a reality in which German and European policy can no longer be separated from each other:

• 2 June: Where’s Europe in...? (1/3) Solidarity and Fundamental Rights, with MEP Sergey Lagodinsky with Ellen Ueberschär
• 16 June: Where’s Europe in...? (2/3) Solidarity and Infrastructure, with MEP Sven Giegold with Ellen Ueberschär
• 23 June: Where’s Europe in...? (3/3) Solidarity and Mobility, with MEP Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg with Ellen Ueberschär

Simultaneous interpretation German-English via Zoom and boell.de/livestream

Read our European Mobility Atlas 2021: Facts and Figures About Transport and Mobility in Europe, to learn more about best practices and policy recommendations to achieve a sustainable, inclusive and just mobility in the European Union, with a focus on railways, cycling, digitalisation, tackling the climate crisis and the impacts of COVID-19.

Contact
Nina Locher
locher@boell.de