New Global Trends report presents challenges and opportunities for Europe’s future

The European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS) presented yesterday its fourth Global Trends Report, titled Choosing Europe’s Future, at a launch event where Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič gave a speech. The report is designed to help the political leadership that will emerge from the June European elections to navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

The report analyses 10 key areas ranging from geopolitics, the environment and economics, to technology and social solidarity. It describes expected trends up to 2040 and how they might interact with one another, highlighting where EU leaders will face choices of long-term strategic importance. While some of the trends described growing risks and emerging threats, the report also shows that they are grounds for optimism and that the EU has had remarkable success in overcoming crises. It also shows that unity across the EU institutions and the Member States is more likely to succeed than an approach where different instances take contradictory or opposing positions.

ESPAS is an inter-institutional initiative between nine EU institutions and bodies dedicated to promoting strategic foresight and anticipatory governance. The Global Trends Report is one of the flagship products of this initiative.