How can the European democratic project respond to the populist challenge? A recent “In Conversation With” podcast episode featuring Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the Jacques Delors Institute, explores this question.

The conversation between Enrico Letta and AHCD Executive Director Christine Lutringer was recorded at the Geneva Graduate Institute on the occasion of Enrico Letta’s visit as guest speaker in the event on the relationship between Switzerland and the European Union.

It began with a discussion of the impact that the extreme right’s success in recent elections, including in Italy and Sweden, may have had on the modes of engagement of other parties. For Enrico[LC1]  Letta, a central difference is around “language”, namely the level of complexity used to describe issues and the ways in which these are then communicated to the electorate.

“Populist parties”, he explained, “are more effective in raising topics linking topics linking them to the day-by-day of people”, while the general terminology used by traditional parties instead keeps a distance with the audience. Further, while traditional parties typically seek to reassure, populist parties instead instill fear through emotional language. This, he argued, is particularly effective in periods of wartime such as during the Russia-Ukraine war and is not a mode of communication that would be helpful in the long run for democratic politics, as fear and emotions create difficult expectations to meet once an election is over.

Other issues touched upon included social welfare policies in Europe and how to reconcile short-term preoccupation around inflation and the cost of living with longer-term issues such as climate change. Discussing the salience of these issues within policy-making and political mobilisations, Christine Lutringer noted findings from the ongoing research project of the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy that traces youth local protests and participation in the areas of climate and labour across four European countries.

Being able to give voice to the youth is crucial according to Enrico Letta: when analysing the question of political participation in Italy through Albert Hirschman’s framework “exit, voice and loyalty”, he foregrounded the need to prevent “exit” among Italian youth.

In the conversation, Enrico Letta highlighted some concrete proposals towards building more effective ways for citizens to participate in European democracy. In concluding reflections, he elaborated on some catalysts for transnational action.