Now that the UK is no longer a member of the EU, maybe it’s time to question the European identity. Is the idea of ‘nation’ back on track, or are there new forms of social cohesion, a new sense of belonging and citizenship? Where do younger generations place their hopes? What do we mean when we say ‘we’ on a political level?
The panellists are: Stephen Clark (Director for Relations with Citizens in the Directorate-General for Communication, European Parliament), Ulrike Guérot (Head of the Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy, Danube University Krems), Robert Tombs (author and historian, Cambridge University) and Louis Williams (author of An Optimist’s Brexit: A Millennial’s Vision). Chaired by Matthew Parris (writer, broadcaster and former MP).
Festival of Ideas continues its partnership with the Institut français and Night of Ideas. Launched by Institut français in 2016, the Night of Ideas is a project staged simultaneously in Paris, London and worldwide. Crossing French, British and European perspectives, Night of Ideas will engage audiences in debates with the theme ‘Together’ as the common thread to tackle the latest ideas behind issues central to our times. All events are free.
In partnership with/
Speakers
Stephen Clark has worked for the European Parliament for nearly 30 years, in a career spanning legislative, financial and organisational roles, and, since 2007, the field of communication. He pioneered the use of social media by EU institutions, before taking charge of developing Parliament’s visitor facilities and managing communication campaigns, notably ahead of the 2014 and 2019 elections. He now oversees the network of the European Parliament’s Liaison Offices across Europe.
Ulrike Guérot is Head of the Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy at Danube University Krems (Austria) and founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin, a think-tank generating innovative ideas for Europe. She has worked at and directed several European research institutes and think tanks. Her work received numerous honorable awards and many of her books have been bestsellers in Germany and have been widely translated and published throughout Europe.
Matthew Parris is a former MP and a prize-winning author, columnist and broadcaster. He currently writes columns for The Times and the Spectator as well as presenting the BBC Radio 4 biographical programme Great Lives. He was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Press Awards 2015. He won the Orwell Prize for his acclaimed autobiography, Chance Witness, published in 2002.
Robert Tombs is a historian. His books include Paris, bivouac des révolutions (Libertalia, 2014) and La France et le Royaume-Uni: Des ennemis intimes (Armand-Colin, 20212), written with his wife Isabelle Tombs. He is also the author of The English and Their History (Penguin, 2015), and is a frequent commentator on history and politics, including Brexit, the subject of his new book, This Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe, due to be published by Penguin in January 2021.
Louis Williams is a Danish-British macroeconomist who, after studying at Cambridge, took up employment as an economist at Credit Suisse. Then, after a brief break living abroad, studying Mandarin and teaching English in Wuhan (China), he helped launch an artificial intelligence fund and macroeconomic consultancy business in London. Building on this economic research undertaken at both Credit Suisse and xAI Asset Management, he released his first book, An Optimist’s Brexit: A Millennial’s Vision.
