SOLIDAR & SOLIDAR +

On 21 March, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, our member organisation the Centar za mirovne studije / Centre for Peace Studies launched the campaign Together for Equality.✊️ We are proud to stand behind it. This is exactly what SOLIDAR and our members do: work every day to build societies where equality is not the exception, but the rule. Across Europe, our network of progressive organisations fights discrimination in all its forms, in workplaces, in communities, in politics. The campaign, part of the FRED project (Fostering Racial Equality and Diversity), gives people practical tools to recognise discrimination in everyday life, understand their legal rights and protections and know where to find support. 👇️ 📹️ Watch the video. Share it widely. And if you or someone you know has faced discrimination, know that you are not alone, and there is help.

Spring has sprung! 🌱🌤️ As the seasons change, let's keep in mind the role of the natural world in all our lives, and our responsibility to protect it by working towards a more sustainable way of living. Storytelling can be a powerful tool in our efforts to bring about a sustainable future for ourselves and our planet - but how can we put it into action? 💭 The free online course developed by Prof Arran Stibbe at the University of Gloucestershire focuses on econarrative and ethical leadership. 'The Search for New Stories to Live By' explores how stories can act as a driver of change. 💡 Learn more or register now: https://lnkd.in/eAwX_cXx University of Gloucestershire Universiteit Gent Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Yesterday, the European Parliament hosted an important event on the state of democracy and civic space in Italy 🇮🇹 "Freedom at Risk? The Case of Italy" brought together MEPs from The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament and The Left in the European Parliament, alongside civil society organisations and journalists, to discuss the alarming deterioration of fundamental rights in one of the EU's founding member states. Our colleague Martina Corti, Social Affairs Policy Officer at SOLIDAR, presented the findings of the CIVICUS Monitor; a global monitoring tool that assesses the state of civic space worldwide. 🚨 The news is sobering: Italy has been downgraded from "narrowed" to "obstructed" civic space, reflecting the growing legal and practical constraints on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. As Martina put it: "The EU must be concerned about the authoritarian drift affecting one of its founding countries, which risks undermining the values on which European democracy is founded." Erasmo Palazzotto, from our member organisation Arci - Associazione Ricreativa e Culturale Italiana, also took the floor, sharing concrete examples of how Italian civil society is responding, from solidarity networks to legal support hubs and activist trainings, and what is at stake for people on the ground. 📣 SOLIDAR and ARCI called on the EU to: 🔸 Condemn the restrictions on civic space in Italy in all relevant EU processes, including the Rule of Law Report. 🔸 Strengthen the implementation of the EU Civil Society Strategy and establish a protection mechanism for activists and CSOs. 🔸 Ensure adequate, flexible and accessible funding for civil society in the next MFF. 🔸 Counter the defamation campaigns targeting civil society organisations in EU institutions. The situation in Italy is not an isolated case, similar trends are being observed across Europe. Civil society must be protected, not criminalised. 🤝

SOLIDAR had the pleasure to moderate a discussion on the European Affordable Housing Plan organised by IUT as part of the EESC's Civil Society Week on 5th March. There we discussed the key features of the Plan and some recommendations for the INI report on the housing crisis. SOLIDAR’s take is that the European Affordable Housing Plan is a welcome initiative to respond to the ongoing housing crisis. As it stands, it has big potential, but also misses the mark on some counts, including the failure to tackle financialisation and to present discrimination against marginalised groups in the housing market 🧐     In the meantime, the INI report was adopted by the European Parliament last week. Regrettably, the report was a missed opportunity for the EP to assert housing as a fundamental right for all. The report fails to recognise financial speculation as the root cause of the current crisis and even panders to the interest of speculators and big landlords. It focuses on criminalising occupation, a witch hunt that moves the focus from addressing the causes of the crisis. Finally, it fails to put forward measures to protect tenants against unsustainable prices, like rent caps.    Even if the report partially acknowledges the negative impact that short-term rentals have on housing affordability, nods to the need to tackle homelessness and calls for increased and dedicated EU funding for housing, it falls far too short of adequately addressing the crisis.    With such an underwhelming EP report, it is even more important that the European Affordable Housing Plan and related initiatives are implemented in an ambitious way, tackling the deep causes of the housing crisis. Read SOLIDAR's take in full: https://lnkd.in/eKeKbQAj

📣 We have two open calls! Know the right people? Please share. SOLIDAR is seeking an enthusiastic consultant to develop our Just Transition Scorecard, a practical tool for assessing Global Gateway projects and their contribution to advancing socially just transitions. 📅 Deadline: 27 March 2026 | Remote | April–May 2026 👇️ Read all the info at the link below. SOLIDAR is also seeking an external consultant to conduct an evaluation of the European Alliance for a Just Transition and develop a five-year strategy aimed at strengthening the Alliance's effectiveness, visibility, and member engagement. 📅 Deadline: 31 March 2026 | Remote | May–October 2026 🔗Find out more about the two opportunities here: https://bit.ly/4sbGLnT

On March 24, 1976, a civic-military dictatorship seized power in Argentina. Over 30,000 people disappeared. Half a century later, the fight to protect memory, democracy, and workers’ rights is more urgent than ever. Today, under the government of Javier Milei, rhetoric and policies that question the role of the State, labor rights, and social achievements are reemerging. We invite you to join us in Brussels for a public event titled: ''50 years after the coup d’État in Argentina: The resistance of yesterday and the fight for democracy today''. The event will reflect on the past and on the present, as authoritarian and regressive political projects continue to threaten labour rights and democratic institutions across the Americas and Europe. 📅 Tuesday, March 24, 2026 ⏰ 6:00 – 8:00 PM 📍 FGTB, Rue Haute 42, 1000 Brussels 🌐 Simultaneous interpretation: FR / ES / NL ➡️ Register here: https://bit.ly/4s7krfq This event is organised together with International Trade Union Confederation - ITUC , Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina, FGTB, ABVV, Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond and IFSI-SVI in the framework of the 2026 global campaign of the ITUC: Fight for Democracy — bringing together trade unions and civil society organisations to build strategic alliances against authoritarianism.

Our Secretary General, Mikael Leyi, spoke at the European Commission's launch event for the Social Climate Fund in Brussels last week — a fund set to mobilise €86.7 billion to support vulnerable households through the EU's green transition. SOLIDAR welcomed the Fund's launch while calling for stronger ambition: 100% of ETS2 revenues should be directed toward socially targeted measures, and Member States must submit robust National Social Climate Plans without further delay. A just transition that protects those most at risk isn't optional, it's a political and social imperative. 🔗 Read our full analysis: https://bit.ly/4llu7Ak

Migrant workers in Europe are formally entitled to fair wages, safe conditions, and the right to complain about abuse. Yet our new study shows these rights consistently fail to materialise in practice — not because the law is absent, but because the system makes exercising rights unsafe. Tied work permits create dependency on employers. No firewalls between labour inspection and immigration enforcement mean that reporting abuse risks deportation. Legal proceedings stretch years; workers lose jobs and housing the moment they file a complaint. This is the rights protection gap and it affects millions of workers across the EU regardless of their migration status. Today, EU Ministers meet at the EPSCO Council to discuss labour market inclusion and the Joint Employment Report — exactly the forum where closing this gap must be on the agenda. 👉Read our full study: https://bit.ly/47AKJOG