European Alternatives is a civil society organisation devoted to exploring the potential for transnational politics and culture. We believe that today the challenges of democratic participation, social equality, and cultural innovation cannot be effectively understood and addressed at the nation state level.

The organisation is unique in being at once a breeding ground for new ideas and proposals for politics and culture at a European level and in being a political and cultural actor with a truly transeuropean activity, staff and support base.

The reflexion and action of European Alternatives is targeted in the first instance at the European Union and European nation states, but the political and cultural horizon of the organisation is global, as are the collaborations it tries to foster.

What we do and why:

Imagining Alternatives

• Research, publications, and transnational seminars to formulate, from the ground-up and through the participation of citizens and members of our local groups, a wide series of political proposals for the Europe to come.

• Transeuropa Festival an innovative simultanous festival taking place in 4 cities mixing cultural, political, and artistic engagement across borders.

• Artistic projects, such as the recent Polis21, inviting artists to imagine alternative proposals for society and political community.

Democratic participation
• Local Groups: we stimulate active participation from the bottom-up in all areas of our work through many active local groups running a rich programme of local activities

• Democratising the EU: we push for greater democratisation of the European political process, advocating greater participation of citizens, civil society and social movements in the decision-making of the European Union. We do so by representing these voices in consultations with the European institutions, by running initiatives reinforcing the role of the European parliament, and in promoting the emergence of a political Europe of alternative choices by analysis and debate of current European policies.

• Campaigns: we contribute to the emergence of pan-European social movements working to transform national demands and campaigns into transnational advocacy. We do so by running regular campaigns on themes as varied as media pluralism and women’s rights.

Transnational Public Sphere
• We publish a printed magazine in English and an online magazine in 3 languages to stimulate interaction with our work and contribute to the shared formulation of political proposals across language barriers, promoting the development of a transnational space for interaction and discussion of political and cultural issues.

Basic beliefs

European Alternatives is not affiliated to any political party or movement. At the same time, we believe that to promote responsible participation in the future development and direction of the European Union it is necessary to express clearly delineated and coherent proposals.

The following basic beliefs guide our work:

Democracy and Participation: The ‘democratic deficit’ so often associated with Europe must be understood as applying also to national institutions. Europe must reinvent forms of politics and participation which will address this situation at a transnational level, stimulating new avenues of engagement that include, expand, and go beyond traditional representative democracy.

Equality: Inequalities between rich and poor, between men and women, between migrant and non-migrant, between different ethnicities, exist at a level beyond the nation state, and the nation is no longer the most appropriate level of governance to address them. The horizon of egalitarian politics must become transnational instiutions if it is to address discrimination and injustice in a globalised age. Only in this way will the challenges of global development can be effectively addressed.

Europe and the world: Transnational solidarity means reinterpreting the political and cultural relations between countries, including those between the European and non-European space. This implies working for a fairer global system based on co-development and global justice.

Culture: Politics must not be reduced to legislation. Finding better ways of living together is a cultural pursuit in which the arts and humanities have an essential role.