Europe in a Changing World

Sinossi

The European Union is currently in the eye of a perfect storm, fuelled by geopolitical and geoeconomic upheavals of extraordinary magnitude: artificial intelligence revolution and technological competition, acceleration of climate change, competitive challenge issued by China and other emerging economies, demographic decline and aging population, mass migration, crisis of the international organizations and of the global system of international relations, intensification and spread of political and military conflicts, enhanced risks to European defence and security. 

Gearing up to cope with these upheavals is a titanic challenge for everyone. But for Europe, it is especially arduous due to several reasons: the accumulated delays in technological and economic competition (resulting from the failure to restructure an industrial specialization model based primarily on mature technologies and traditional services); the shortage of energy resources and strategic raw materials; the “lack of independence” from the US in the fields of defence and security; and the more rapid demographic decline, linked to the difficulty (for ideological and cultural reasons) of offsetting the aging population with adequate inflows of immigrants. 

No European country can meet these “existential” challenges with its national resources alone. The EU itself will be able to address them only if it makes difficult choices that entail a radical leap forward in terms of political and economic integration. These choices must be outlined, discussed, decided and implemented without delay. Time is not on Europe’s side.

Nearly a hundred highly respected expert (economists, legal scholars, technologists, and political scientists) spent two years thinking about these choices and the European policies needed to implement them; they have developed a series of innovative proposals that are presented in this book. 

It is certainly a vast and arduous program. But it is not unachievable: because the suggested reforms do not require amendments to the European Treaties nor unanimous consent from the member states; and because Europe has the necessary resources.