Press Release | Europe must act – and act now

Brussels, 16 October 2025 – This year’s edition of the State of Europe high-level roundtable marked the official launch of the new Jacques Delors Friends of Europe Foundation, the first truly independent pan-European think tank network, communications powerhouse and citizen engagement platform.

Responding to a world in crisis, we are proposing a bold investment in European innovative thinking, offering a compelling, strategic and urgent response.

Rapid progress in talks to open up the European Union to Ukraine and other new members, and urgent measures to end market fragmentation that stifles EU growth and innovation, were among key priorities that emerged from the annual State of Europe roundtable.

“The European Union needs to be enlarged … We want the border of the European Union not to stop at our borders,” Romania’s Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu, told the 22nd edition of Friends of Europe’s flagship event. “We are stronger together.”

The day-long roundtable drew decisionmakers from politics, business and civil society, who discussed issues ranging from the Israel-Palestine conflict to climate change, emerging technologies to European security.

Participants warned delaying the EU enlargement process could fuel public disillusion in candidate countries, creating opportunities for forces hostile to European democracy and undermining stability across the continent.

Enlargement “is an investment in stability and prosperity, not only for new members but for the stability of the European continent as a whole,” said Jakov Milatović, President of Montenegro.

Dmytro Kuleba, former Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, recognised the complexities of the membership process over issues such as integration of Ukraine’s large agricultural sector, while highlighting that membership was essential for wider European security.

“Without Ukraine in the European Union, we will not be able to speak about a prosperous and free Europe for years to come,” he said. “It is fundamentally important, to avoid wars in the future, to take Ukraine into the EU.”

In an opening session on funding the EU’s future, speakers highlighted the imperative of improving regulation and overcoming market fragmentation to spur competitiveness and innovation.

Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta had a straightforward solution for making progress: reform legislative processes to move away from directives which give member states leeway in applying EU laws in favour of more directly applicable EU regulations.

“This is very simple. I know it is not very attractive, it’s not a moonshot, but it is a real game changer. Stop directives,” said Letta, currently President of the Jacques Delors Institute and author of the report on the future of the single market.

Business leaders spoke of the pressing need to complete Europe’s single market to allow the EU to compete more effectively with global rivals.

“Competitiveness is key for the future of Europe,” said Madeleine de Cock Buning, Vice-President of Global Affairs EMEA at Netflix. “We need to make sure that we are not confronted with different regulatory hurdles across Europe … We want to have competition, we want to have plurality and we want to have an even more thriving cultural sector across Europe.”

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Sabina Șancu

Press and Communications Officer
sabina.sancu@friendsofeurope.org
press@friendsofeurope.org