The European project is under pressure. The Euro crisis, the rise of populism across the continent, managing borders and immigration, Brexit, security fears - the list of challenges is long. And 2017 will bring more, including elections in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
Can the European Union survive? What role will Europe play on the world stage in the future?
Defining the Problem
Are the causes of the problems in the EU emotional or material, asks moderator John Harris, Editor-in-Chief at Politico.
“It’s the economy, stupid,” says European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. “What people in Europe suffer from is too weak growth, too high unemployment and too much debt. Some people feel that they are losers from globalisation, there is growing inequality.”
The answer, he continues, is a Europe that functions more efficiently, protects its people and is more transparent.
“If people feel they are not secure then they feel they need to go back to the past, to national politics and borders,” he explains. “The EU Commission is perceived as a prototype of elites and we need to address this, it’s about democracy and how we can be more transparent and more accountable.
“We need to be proud of what we have done and proud of being European.”
There are many forces that are contributing to the extreme populism the world is seeing, argues Joseph E. Stiglitz, Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. “It’s not all economics. Globalisation is playing a role, technology is playing a role - why are we innovating in ways to create more unemployment rather than in ways to save the planet?" he asks.
But Europe itself is part of the problem. "One of the other factors is the loss of economic sovereignty of its members. When countries signed up for the Euro I don’t think that they understood they were giving up economic sovereignty, and they feel in some sense betrayed by their leaders."
Emma Marcegaglia, Chairman of Eni SpA, argues that Europe has two main problems, too much unemployment and too much divergence between countries. The answer is not to look inward, however.
"If you look at Brexit," interjects Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, "the regions where it prevailed were the ones with high poverty, exclusion and unemployment. Behind the xenophobia and the populism was an economic problem that politicians weren’t able to solve."
“Politicians should start telling people the truth," he adds. "Welcoming a couple of million migrants is not a problem, on the contrary, if you are able to provide both refugees and native workers with new and better jobs the problem will be solved.”
How much of a problem is Trump?
Trump has been quite vocal about his support for Brexit, but how seriously does the panel take his words?
“We will see the difference between what the President-elect says and what the President does in his job,” says Moscovici, adding that "we have to take his words seriously."
It means more EU, not less, he adds.
“My opinion is no one knows what this fellow would do,” says Emma Marcegaglia. “If he is serious about what he is saying then it is a total disaster.”
A better way forward for Europe
The better way forward is more Europe, agrees Stiglitz, but the Euro is a problem.
We have to save Europe, says Emma Marcegaglia, we have to create more jobs, and the way to do that is to create more growth and more investment.
Luca Visentini agrees, adding that there are millions of highly skilled, highly educated young people in Europe who can’t get a job. "We also need to redistribute profits and create efficient social protection systems, and we have the money to do so,” he says.
Will the EU survive?
Stiglitz says that the EU hasn’t done a good enough job of extolling the virtues of being in the EU, but he believes that it will survive.
Luca says that not only will it survive but there will be more countries in it.
Pierre admits that Brexit was “respectable”, but that it was “regrettable”, and thinks that the EU now needs to do whatever is necessary to ensure its survival.