We assembled a group of the continent’s leading thinkers to assess the threats: their warnings are stark, but the remedy is within reach
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aught between Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Donald Trump’s US and Xi Jinping’s China, Europe appears in a state of profound crisis, the narrative about its future often filled with fatalism. There is a paradox, however. Despite rising nationalism, the climate crisis and the economic slowdown, few would take issue with the claim that Europe still has a great deal going for it. Asked to choose where in the world they would want to live, there is a good chance that most Europeans would still pick Europe over other continents.
The news is not relentlessly negative either. While much of the political commentary in recent years has focused on the rise of far-right nationalism across the continent, its most prominent symbol, Hungary’s former autocrat Viktor Orbán, was ousted in a landslide election this month.
With this paradox in mind, we teamed up to try to unpack the continent’s biggest challenges and opportunities. As scholars, we have expertise on Europe’s foreign and security policy and the digital economy, but we knew we did not have all the answers and wanted to draw others into the conversation. We assembled a group of leading thinkers from across Europe whose collective expertise spans the economy, the climate emergency, migration, technology, defence, democracy, history and much more. We captured their thoughts for our new film as they grappled with the extraordinary convergence of different threats facing the continent, and shared their analysis and ideas.
