Aren’t there plenty of reasons why we should celebrate the ‘Future of Europe’?
Out of the window with doom scenarios: Europe is a hotspot of excellence, ready to achieve new heights.
The future of Europe can look bright since it has what it takes to exploit its growth potential. Europe scores high on the ‘Four Ts’, which enable innovation and excellence: tax regime, talent, technology and track record.
Economy, entrepreneurship, social and cultural richness are the pillars of the new Europe. Diversity and a high-level of education provide the tools to successfully tackle the current challenges.
Olli Rehn, Commission Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro said: “The ongoing rebalancing of the European economy is continuing to weigh on growth in the short term. The current situation can be summarised like this: we have disappointing hard data from the end of last year, some more encouraging soft data in the recent past, and growing investor confidence in the future.”
What are the characteristics of the future Europe? Will it stay a Union of Nation States? How will diversity strengthen Europe? What makes it competitive in the future? What global role is Europe going to play?
“I believe a United States of Europe is the right vision to surmount the current crisis, but above all to overcome the failings of the Maastricht Treaty” – Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship
“Without Turkey we can forget our ambition to be a global player in the future.” – Günter Verheugen, former Commission Vice-President and enlargement commissioner.
The speakers and topics are:
Stephen Aguilar-Millan, Director of Research, The European Futures Observatory, Director, The Greenways Partnership
Which Europe?
The model of the European Union that served it well for the first 50 years has come under a great deal of pressure since the onset of the financial collapse of 2008. There are those who take the view that now might be a good time to review that model before events impose changes to the EU. This session will trace the development of the EU model, consider how it could change, and how that will influence the future of Europe.
Fernando Lanzer Pereira de Souza, Consultant, itim International
The future of Europe is not rational!
Discussions about the future of Europe need to consider the influence of values and emotions and not only rational aspects. There are five value-clusters in Europe, an important component of identity. If we do not address that, political/economic proposals for an effective European Union are unlikely to be accepted.
Wim J. de Ridder, Professor Futures Studies, University Twente, Founder
