Herman Van Rompuy | How to Turn Fear into Hope | Inaugural lecture at CIFE | Academic Year 2025/26 скачать в хорошем качестве

Herman Van Rompuy | How to Turn Fear into Hope | Inaugural lecture at CIFE | Academic Year 2025/26

In his inaugural lecture, Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the Council of Europe and CIFE President, provides a lucid analysis of the successive crises that have marked Europe since 2008: the financial crisis, the eurozone crisis, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, soaring inflation, and trade wars. Events that created fear and uncertainty, fueling the rise of extremism and political fragmentation. Facing this climate of anxiety, he poses the central question: How do we turn fear into hope? His answer is clear: Europe must take its fate into its own hands by strengthening its unity and strategic independence. Paradoxically, despite apparent Euroscepticism, trust in the EU is at its highest level in twenty years. European citizens recognize that nation-states alone can no longer respond to today's major challenges. Van Rompuy calls for greater European leadership, a truly competitive industrial policy, and strategic autonomy in critical sectors, while defending multilateralism. His conclusion is a call to action: "Powerless does not mean hopeless. We must create our own hope." The inaugural lecture for the academic year 2025/26 at CIFE was recorded online on 19 November 2025.