State of Europe 2025: the Festival of Politics and Ideas

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Friends of Europe State of Europe: the Festival of Politics and Ideas 2025 2

About

The Festival of Politics and Ideas is a fixture and a highlight on the European calendar. The reason is simple: it is a place where today’s top leaders from the worlds of politics, business, and civil society in Europe and beyond connect and offer thought leadership to influence change and shape the future of Europe.

This three-day gathering includes the State of Europe high-level roundtable, which has been tapping into collective wisdom for the past 20+ years, the President’s Gala Dinner on the eve of it, the Friends of Europe Board of Trustees meeting, and a meeting of the European Young Leaders, who come from all walks of life to close the festival.

The 2025 Festival of Politics and Ideas will be a key moment to assess the progress made during the first year of the new European Parliament and European Commission and to engage with member states as they confront deep challenges, from war in Europe to declining competitiveness and the climate crisis. It will also provide a platform to evaluate the transatlantic partnership ten months into Trump’s second administration.

Among the big-ticket questions we will be debating this year are: Is a social, green, and competitive Europe possible? What cost and what structure for an enlarged Europe? What is Europe’s strategy for the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine? How do we catalyse the EU’s industrial revolution through innovation? How can we align capital with ambitions for Europe’s future?

At the State of Europe, European Commissioners, current and former (prime) ministers, CEOs, top representatives of European and international institutions, members of parliaments, mayors, civil society leaders, and media influencers come together for frank and open debates. Friends of Europe’s Trustees and European Young Leaders (EYL40)—a solid pan-European network of up-and-coming leaders, including artists, writers, and entrepreneurs—will also be in attendance. Meanwhile, Debating Europe, our citizen engagement unit, will underpin all discussions with qualitative data generated via its most recent project, Voices for Choices, using citizen-led focus groups and surveys.

Recent editions of State of Europe have brought together over 200 discussants from 40+ countries to develop policy proposals, address pressing policy issues, counteract negative trends, and harness disruptive change for the benefit of citizens.

Friends of Europe’s Renewed Social Contract remains the key roadmap guiding the content and discussions at the Festival of Politics and Ideas 2025.

This event is by invitation only.

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