Inflation and the cost of living across Europe began to soar in the wake of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But by working together, Atlas Network partners are beating back these harmful trends and removing barriers that make it harder for people in the region to prosper.
Adam Bartha is director of the European Policy Information Center (EPICENTER). Founded in 2014, the organization aims to connect classical liberal and free-market think tanks across the continent and help maximize their impact.
“All these fantastic think tanks do amazing work locally, but how do we elevate that to the European level?” Adam asked.
Coordinating a continent
With the rising cost of living impacting people throughout the region, Adam saw an opportunity to coordinate with other Atlas Network partners to explain the cause of rapid inflation across Europe, as well as country-specific proposals to curb government policies that increase the cost of living.
“We wanted to pinpoint in eight European countries—including France, Italy, Greece, and Romania—the exact liberalizing reforms that governments could implement tomorrow that would actually help with the cost-of-living crisis,” Adam said. The resulting publication crossed the desks of a number of government officials, and EPICENTER-affiliated experts were invited to discuss their recommendations with lawmakers in the European Union parliament in Brussels, and in Germany, France, Italy, and Romania.
EPICENTER also reached out to European voters with information detailing what their lawmakers could do to improve the situation and how voters could encourage officials to take action. Their strategy caught the attention of media outlets across the continent, reaching 60 million people through over 600 mentions in European media. EPICENTER’s infographics, explainer videos, and other posts went viral on social networks, educating roughly 50 million additional European voters.
Governments across Europe have already responded to EPICENTER’s work by rolling back policies contributing to out-of-control inflation. Italy reformed how it provides local public services, especially public transportation, allowing competition in the marketplace. In France, members of parliament worked across party lines to amend regulations that raise costs for consumers. Romania’s Ministry of Finance also halted its plan to raise taxes on small and medium businesses in response to an EPICENTER-affiliated media campaign. With these successes under his belt, Adam is determined to keep up the pressure on European policymakers.
Winning together
Tackling Europe’s cost-of-living crisis is no easy challenge, but EPICENTER’s impactful campaign has earned additional support by receiving a grant prize as the winner of the 2023 Atlas Network Europe Liberty Award. After Adam held aloft the trophy before a crowd of his peers at Atlas Network’s Europe Liberty Forum in Prague, Czech Republic, he was quick to remind the crowd that the recognition was not his alone.
“It shouldn’t be me on the stage; it should be the thirty people—all the fantastic researchers and communications people—who were working on this project,” Adam said.
“I think this is a fantastic acknowledgement by Atlas Network that there is a need for collaboration. We need to do more together, and essentially the last ten years has been building up to this moment where we have many pan-European projects each year that actually achieve impact, where a lot of the Atlas Network partners are working together to combat bad policy ideas and build a more classical liberal Europe.”
