Europe: Superpower or Decline?

Watch the full movie of the event Europe: Superpower or Decline? with the lecture of Marc De Vos and the debate on the future of Europe.

As the global order fragments into blocks, as globalization wanes and as war has returned on the European continent, the European Union has stepped into the breach.

Geopolitics, security, autonomy, resilience and derisking now top its agenda. At the same time, the European Union is readying itself for another leap forward, with defence, industrial policy, internal market and competitiveness among the priorities to further strengthen the European cause in a multipolar world.

Can the European Union indeed rise to the challenge of hard power and geopolitics? Can it find a way to move from crisis management to strategic leadership? Can Europe become the master of its own faith or do we remain vulnerable to outside events and third parties? What choices do we collectively face in Europe for the years ahead? How to achieve the indispensable political leadership at both the member state and the European level? Can we find flexible ways to fund, accelerate and scale the many European imperatives? 

Together with Egmont Institute, Itinera organised a debate on the future of the European Union. We asked debate members Enrico Letta, President, Jacques Delors Institute, and former Prime Minister of Italy, David O'Sullivan, EU Sanctions Envoy, former EU-ambassador to the US and former Director General of the Institute for International and European Affairs, Bruno Tobback, MEP and Marc De Vos, co-CEO Itinera what went wrong, how and why the political climate around Europe's future changed, what is the problem with reaching out to the European public opinion and how to move forward fast enough?