On 11 October 2018, Ambassador Iztok Mirošič took part in the State of Europe high-level roundtable entitled #EuropeMatters – a 12 month project bringing together business leaders, policymakers, civil society representatives and citizens to co-design a Europe that still matters in 2030 – organized by the Friends of Europe and Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Prominent guests included Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Mr Didier Reynders, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs, Ms Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Former Prime Minister of Denmark, and Alexander Stubb, Former Prime Minister of Finland and the EPP’s Spitzenkandidat for the new President of the European Commission.
The events objective, in the context of upcoming 2019 European elections and rise of populisms, was to seek for answers on how to present true value, its policies and future of the European Union to its citizens, and discuss various scenarios of Union’s development by 2030.
Key factors influencing European future identified at the event were ageing population, revolutionary technologies (in particular digitization and artificial intelligence), rise of new markets and their impact on European competitiveness, migration and urban growth, resource scarcity and climate change, as well as the return of geopolitics. In addition, participants discussed the role of the European Union in shaping the new global order and stressed their support for the further development of an ambitious and powerful European Union in dialogue with its citizens.
Based on the conclusions, recommendations will be made for the creation of a new social contract and a new European policy, in particular a new European social model for the future leadership of the European Union – i.e. the new European Parliament and European Commission.
