Which Europe do we need?

The European order, peace and prosperity are under threat as they have not been since the Cold War. Young Europeans are turning away from the EU. What we need is a convincing vision for an unsettled continent. In their new book Welches Europa brauchen wir? (Which Europe do we need?), Francesca and Gerald Knaus show new narratives that could convince majorities again to be engaged for the European Union.

From a continent ravaged by war to an expanding zone of democratic peace: the past 75 years tell the story of a European miracle that is still misunderstood. Today, we must defend this miracle against determined enemies before we lose it. For it is not only Europe and the European Union that are in crisis, but also the reflections and discussions on European integration.

The book Welches Europa brauchen wir? (Which Europe do we need?) is about the search for the causes of violence between states, nationalism and identity, and a theory of sustainable peace. It is about great thinkers and courageous politicians who remind us how the European miracle came about – and what we can do to preserve it. This afternoon, Hanco Jürgens will discuss the book with the authors Francesca and Gerald Knaus. 

Over de sprekers

Gerald Knaus is the founding director of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) think tank. He is an internationally renowned expert on issues relating to refugees, migration and human rights. He is an important advisor to governments and institutions and a frequent guest in German talk shows. Knaus studied philosophy, politics and international relations in Oxford, Brussels and Bologna, is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and was an associate fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School – John F. Kennedy School of Governance in the USA for five years.

Francesca Knaus was born in Austria in 2000 and grew up in Istanbul, Paris, Cambridge (USA) and Berlin. She studied European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, specialising in EU law, Central and Eastern Europe. She is co-founder of the European Debate Initiative (EDI), a youth organisation based in Copenhagen that won the European Citizen’s Prize in 2021. Since 2021, she has been working as a research assistant in the German Bundestag on foreign policy and human rights.

Hanco Jürgens is a member of the academic staff at the Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam and a fellow at the Montesquieu Instituut. He teaches German and European history at the University of Amsterdam. Jürgens’ research focuses on the history of modern Germany in a European context. Currently, he focuses on the transformation of German society since the 1980s. He has published on a variety of topics, such as (the history of) Dutch-German relations, German EU-policy and the Franco-German relations.