EU after the watershed: beyond interdependence?
The EU faces multiple challenges, both internally and externally, so what does its future hold and is it still the right answer after the watershed?
The European Union has been going through enormous changes. Driven by the Permacrisis – an extended period of insecurity and instability – fundamental transformations in technology, sustainability and demography and the watershed moment of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, security, particularly economic security, is now firmly back on the agenda.
The EU will have to continue to change and adapt to address this triple challenge. But this must happen in the difficult context of both internal and external fragmentation and polarisation.
What does this imply for the future of the EU? Is the EU moving from being a community of values enshrined in law to a confederation of interest driven by Realpolitik? And is the EU still the right answer to today’s changed environment?
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SPEAKER
Dr Fabian Zuleeg
Chief Executive, European Policy Centre
Since October 2013, Dr Fabian Zuleeg has been Chief Executive of the European Policy Centre, with overall responsibility, including providing strategic direction, managing its staff and resources and representing the EPC. He remains Chief Economist. Fabian holds a PhD from Edinburgh University and has worked in academia, the public and the private sector. He focuses on the future of European integration and how Europe can meet the triple challenge of the watershed of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the fundamental transformations and the Permacrisis. He coined this term with EPC colleagues in 2021 in the context of internal political dis-cohesion and a contested global landscape. Fabian also focuses on transnational cooperation between European Think Tanks.
CHAIR
Professor Mona Siddiqui
Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, Assistant Principal for Religion and Society and Dean international for the Middle East, University of Edinburgh
Professor Mona Siddiqui is a well-respected public intellectual and speaker on religion, ethics and public life. Her primary research areas are Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), ethics, and Christian-Muslim relations. She has held several prestigious research grants and visiting professorships, serving as a Humanitas Professor at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Professorship at Hartford Seminary in the US. In 2011, she was awarded an OBE for her interfaith work. She is a regular commentator in public life and the media, having spoken at the World Economic Forum and being listed in the Debretts top 500 list of the most influential people in the UK. She currently chairs the BBC’s Religious Advisory Committee in Scotland.
