On October 24, the Institute of European Studies in collaboration with the Institute of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, the Austrian Studies Program, the Institute of International Studies, the German Department, and the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation hosted a discussion with the President of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation and diplomat, Wolfgang Petritsch, moderated by Professor Jeroen Dewulf, Director of IES, and Professor John Connelly, Director of ISEEES.
This discussion focused on the unique political situation that Europe finds itself in as it faces conflict both internally and externally. Petritsch described how political perceptions in Europe have changed over the past decade from the perspective of the European Security Strategy. In 2003, the strategy emphasized Europe being prosperous and secure, but in 2016, European’s perspectives had completely shifted and worried about the very existence of the European project. Petritsch partially attributes this change to two events, the election of Donald Trump and Brexit. The panelists also discuss how the United States’ soft and hard power in relation to Europe has changed. Although Europe does remain largely dependent on the United States for its security, Petritsch claimed that the question of whether there is a “united West” anymore has been raised as a result of European alienation and individualism.
The panelist then turned to discuss some particular issues facing Europe currently including the war in Ukraine, the rise of the extreme right, and the migration crisis. Petritsch attributed the rise of the extreme right to people’s recognition of the weakening of the nation-state and their desires to make it strong again despite this being politically unlikely due to European integration and the increasingly connected world. Finally, the panelist briefly discussed border control and noted that Europe’s difficulties lay in that it is surrounded by crises, but lacks the cooperation to make swift decisions.