Roundtable in Brussels: Sovereignty in a Hostile, Climate-Disrupted World: Europe’s Strategic ChoicesRoundtable Discussion in Brussels

The Commission’s 2026 work programme – titled Europe’s Independence Moment – captures the moment. Yet, Europe will not regain agency unless a critical group of political leaders starts to grasp the scale of geopolitical shifts unfolding and forges urgent new partnerships with other middle-powers stuck between China and the US.

During a well attended high-level roundtable, we identified the windows of opportunity and options Europe has available to become more dynamic institutionally and evolve into a geostrategic actor.

We will be kicked off by three 10 min presentations to set the scene

• The hidden undercurrents: How ideologies and accelerating climate change drive geopolitical power shifts that threaten European sovereignty

Olivia LAZARD, Fellow at Berggruen Institute & Carnegie Europe, Los Angeles

• Europe’s post-WTO offer to the world: Building collective geoeconomic deterrence with middle-powers to counter the influence of China and the US

Jonathan BARTH, Chair of the Geostrategic Europe Taskforce & Visiting Fellow at Jacques Delors Institute, Paris|

• What would Schuman say? Advancing European sovereignty via a ‘supra-governmental avantgarde’

Almut MÖLLER, Director for EU & Global Affairs, European Policy Centre, Brussels

Comments:

• Jennifer MORGAN– Former State Secretary for International Climate Policy at the German Foreign Office

• Thomas FRIANG - Executive Director of the ESSEC Institute for Geopolitics & Business 

• Tom MIDDENDORP– Chairman International Military Council on Climate and Security and Special Envoy on European Defence Cooperation; former Commander of the Netherlands Armed Forces

With this discussion we aim to inform debates in 2026 that shape Europe’s geostrategy, in particular the Economic Security Strategy, the Industrial Accelerator Act, ResourceEU the integrated framework for climate resilience, and the MFF.