Voices, choices and leadership: a tipping point for Europe? - Conservatory

By the end of 2024, more than two billion voters around the world will have been invited to the polls to make their voices heard. This unprecedented election year is poised to have profound effects, heralding an era of significant global transformation and opportunity. Election results are also expected to mirror a broader global sentiment: an increasing disillusionment with present politicians’ promises for the future, reflecting a deep-seated scepticism towards the notion of progress.
The 2024 European Parliamentary elections were expected to deliver a dramatic far-right surge, but instead gave place to a more nuanced picture likely to further complicate consensus-building on important policy issues in the next institutional cycle. The elections impacted national politics, albeit differently according to the member state, underscoring dynamics at play between national and EU-level politics.
The European elections did not only provide insights into citizens’ present-day concerns, but also gauged what hope there is for a future challenged by war, geopolitical shifts, heightened competition among global tech powers, the climate emergency, high levels of public debt and growing socio-economic disparities, to name but a few.
The pace, scope, and depth of social, economic, political, and technological change from 2019 to 2024 have been remarkable, setting a breathtaking context for future possibilities. We can realistically expect even faster and more profound changes in the coming term. More likely than not, the coming years will bring about even greater polarisation. However, as political leadership changes across the world and a new European institutional cycle begins, 2025 has the potential to kick-start an era in which Europe delivers the governance its citizens need: a social and competitive Europe that keeps Europeans healthy and safe, meets economic ambitions, and retains social imperatives at the centre of all considerations.
We must tear up the old rule book and reimagine a new one better suited for today’s challenges as traditional methods will not be effective in managing our crises. We must reimagine the tools at our disposal and the EU must now overhaul the social contract established in the last century to ensure its survival.
Friends of Europe argues for a Renewed Social Contract as the key to achieving the inclusive and fair transitions, peace and security and social prosperity needed for Europe to care for its citizens and retain its role on the global stage. Building upon the ideas set out in Friends of Europe’s recently published ‘10 policy choices for a Renewed Social Contract for Europe’, the 21st State of Europe high-level roundtable will be dedicated to sketching the Europe we want the new European Commission to work towards. Finally, conversations at the State of Europe high-level roundtable will be underpinned by citizen-generated data gathered by Debating Europe, as part of our Voices for Choices project.
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