EXPRESS<sp>2</sp> partners meet in Istanbul to rethink the EU Social Contract
From 28 to 30 May 2025, the EXPRESS2 project consortium gathered in Istanbul for its midterm conference and General Assembly, hosted by the Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence at Sabancı University. This three-day event offered a vital opportunity to take stock of the project's progress and to reflect collectively on how to build a more participatory, inclusive, and resilient European social contract.
Over two days of public sessions, speakers addressed some of the most pressing challenges facing European democracies today—populism, gender inequality, digitalisation, disinformation, and the shifting boundaries of EU citizenship. The conference, titled “Crafting a New EU Social Contract Together”, brought together EXPRESS2 researchers alongside invited experts including a guest speaker from the twin Horizon Europe project CO3, fostering cross-project dialogue.
Speakers and participants alike highlighted the value of cross-national, comparative perspectives and the importance of fostering a common vocabulary for discussing democratic legitimacy and institutional trust across Europe. Sessions also pointed to the tension between formal EU legal frameworks and the lived experiences of those they are meant to serve—offering thoughtful critiques and proposals for more responsive governance.
Young Scholars Contest
The EXPRESS2 Midterm Conference also hosted the final presentations of the Young Scholars Contest, which showcased four high-quality research contributions from emerging scholars.
One paper used sentiment analysis of media coverage to examine public perceptions of the digital euro, exploring how communication strategies shape trust in new technologies. Another proposed centering “time” as a political right, arguing for temporal justice as a pillar of the future EU social contract. A third addressed the social impact of the energy transition, analysing how populist narratives exploit the economic dislocation caused by decarbonisation, and calling for policies that integrate social and climate justice. The final contribution investigated trust and legitimacy in specialised courts, using the Unified Patent Court as a case to examine how authority is constructed beyond expert communities.
These presentations reflected the contest’s aim to amplify original, policy-relevant perspectives on the EU social contract.
The contest results, evaluated by members of the EXPRESS2 Steering Committee, will be announced on June 2025. The winning paper will be featured in the forthcoming EXPRESS2 Edited Monograph, which will bring together key research outputs from the project, including selected EXPRESS2 reports and contributions from Advisory Board members.
General Assembly
The third day was devoted to the internal coordination of the project. The General Assembly brought together the consortium’s partners for focused discussions on project management, communication strategies, ethics and transparency, and the ongoing work of the Gender Observatory. These exchanges helped consolidate the groundwork for the next phase of EXPRESS2, reaffirming the consortium’s shared commitment to shaping an EU social contract that is not only more explicit—but also more just.
