This episode takes you straight to Europe’s unique effort to look beyond short-term politics: the European Commission’s Citizens’ Panel on Intergenerational Fairness. From September to November 2025, 150 randomly selected citizens from all 27 EU Member States gathered on three weekends to discuss long-term policy recommendations – and on November 16th, Intergenerational Fairness Day, they handed over their final 24 recommendations to European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Glenn Micallef.

Lena was in Brussels for the final session, and in this episode, she walks you through what she witnessed: the debates, the challenges, the learning moments, and the recognition that citizens were shaping a shared long-term vision rather than simply observing it. What exactly is a Citizens’ Panel? How does it work? And what does it mean that its outcome will help shape the EU’s first-ever Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness, due in 2026?
To answer these questions, Lena speaks with three people who helped shape the process from the inside:

• Béla Kuslits, senior ecology officer at the Jesuit European Social Centre, and the coordinator of the Future Generations Initiative
• Petranka Malcheva, policy lead for Health, Long-term thinking and Prevention at the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
• Deša Srsen, Cabinet member of Commissioner Micallef and the person responsible for drafting the upcoming Strategy

Lena discusses the panel’s purpose with experts, shares their biggest surprises, and what it will take for Europe to truly embed long-term responsibility into everyday policymaking. If you want to understand how exactly Europe is trying to turn intergenerational fairness into political practice, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.

Find out more information about the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations:
https://intergenerationaljustice.org/about-us/who-we-are/

You can explore the European Citizens’ Panel on Intergenerational Fairness on the Commission’s website: https://citizens.ec.europa.eu/citizens-panel-intergenerational-fairness_en and read our full blogpost about the final session here: https://intergenerationaljustice.org/2025/11/25/european-citizens-panel-intergenerational-fairness/.

If you want to dive deeper into the Intergenerational Fairness Day itself, you’ll find more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergenerational_Fairness_Day or https://intergenerationaljustice.org/projects/intergenerational-fairness-day/
And if you’re new to this podcast, you can listen to all episodes here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2273376

Follow us on Instagram @intergenerationalfairnessday and use the #intergenerationalfairnessday or send us an email to dialog@srzg.de.

Thank you for listening!
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CREDITS
Creator/Host/Executive Producer: Lena Winzer
Producer/Editor: Lena Winzer, Svenja Klöckner
Music: Benjamin Cornelius, Background Sounds

Get ready for December 16th because our new episode is about THE intergenerational fairness challenge: climate change! COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, just a few weeks ago and one thing is clear: the stakes have never been higher. With global temperatures nearing the 1.5°C threshold, the decisions made—or avoided—at these conferences will shape the future for generations to come. In this episode, we’ll take a closer look at what happened at COP29. What progress was made? Where did the negotiations fall short? And how do these outcomes impact intergenerational fairness? And you're not just hearing it from anywhere: Lena's guest Arthur is an Ambassador for the FRFG and experienced COP29 firsthand. Together they unpack all the successes and shortcomings at this year's Conference of the Parties. From funding gaps and geopolitical dynamics to accountability issues and backdoor deals – we have it all.

Find out more information about the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations:
https://intergenerationaljustice.org/about-us/who-we-are/
and about FRFG's Ambassador and Climate Expert Arthur: https://intergenerationaljustice.org/about-us/ambassadors/

For more information about this year's COP in Baku:

• https://unfccc.int/cop29#:~:text=With%20a%20central%20focus%20on,300%20billion%20annually%20by%202035.
• https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop29-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-baku/
• https://unfccc.int/cop29/auvs
• BBC News and Global Witness report: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crmzvdn9e18o

For more information about the Intergenerational Fairness Day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergenerational_Fairness_Day or https://intergenerationaljustice.org/projects/intergenerational-fairness-day/
..and for this podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2273376

Follow us on Instagram @intergenerationalfairnessday and use the #intergenerationalfairnessday or send us an email to dialog@srzg.de.

Thank you for listening! If you want to learn more about the other organisations championing the Intergenerational Fairness Day, then check out the links below!

Intergenerational Foundation, United Kingdom
https://www.if.org.uk

Milliongenerations, Netherlands
https://www.milliongenerations.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Partnership for Future Generations in Africa
https://ourfutureagenda.org/2023/02/partnership-for-future-generations-in-africa

Think Forward, Australia
https://www.thinkforward.org.au

Generation Squeeze, Canada
https://www.gensqueeze.ca

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CREDITS
Creator/Host/Executive Producer: Lena Winzer
Producer/Editor: Lena Winzer, Svenja Klöckner
Music: Benjamin Cornelius, Background Sounds

We’re back with part 2 of our Existential Risks Edition! Welcome to the fifth episode of the Intergenerational Fairness Day Podcast coming September 19th! Our discussion today has got everything: a hostile takeover, technological advancements, power and peril and a few heroes like my guest today trying to warn us about it all. This is "Episode 5: The Future of Intelligence: AI and the Survival of Humanity." In today's episode, your host Lena Winzer and her guest founder and director of the Existential Risk Observatory, Otto Barten, are going to break it all down—what AGI actually is, why it could pose such a significant risk, and what's being done to address it. So, buckle up as we separate fact from fiction and explore the existential risks of AI, a topic that could very well determine the fate of humanity.

For more information about the Existential Risk Observatory and their projects - check out the links below!

Website: https://www.existentialriskobservatory.org/

Policy proposals: https://existentialriskobservatory.org/papers_and_reports/Policy%20Proposals.pdf

Articles in TIME: https://time.com/author/otto-barten/

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@existentialriskobservatory

X: https://x.com/xrobservatory

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71570894/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/existentialriskobservatory/

For more information on the Existential Risk of AI:

Kurzgesagt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8k8IQ1_X0

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk_from_artificial_general_intelligence

Yoshua Bengio's blog: https://yoshuabengio.org/2024/07/09/reasoning-through-arguments-against-taking-ai-safety-seriously/

Superintelligence (in German): https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/nick-bostrom-superintelligenz-t-9783518586846

The Precipice: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Toby-Ord/dp/0316484911

PauseAI: https://pauseai.info/

For more information about the double issue of the Intergenerational Justice Review on Existential Risks and other projects of the FRFG check out the links below:
Intergenerational Justice Review: https://igjr.org/ojs/index.php/igjr/issue/view/118
All other FRFG projects: https://www.intergenerationaljustice.org

For more information about the Intergenerational Fairness Day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergenerational_Fairness_Day
..and for this podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2273376