In his address to the IIEA, former President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, discusses current global developments and how these relate to the European challenges of our time. In Mr Van Rompuy’s opinion, these challenges include democracy, leadership, strategic autonomy, deindustrialisation, immigration, and potential institutional changes. In his remarks, he also discusses growing individualisation within the European Union and how this affects our societies and politics.

About the Speaker:

Herman Van Rompuy was the first full-time President of the European Council, a position he held from December 2009 until November 2014. At the time of his election, he was serving as the Prime Minister of Belgium. A former economist at the National Bank of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy began his political career in 1973 as national vice-president of the youth movement of the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V). He served in the Belgian Parliament and in the Belgian Government in multiple positions. Having retired from politics, Mr Van Rompuy served as the President of the European Policy Centre (2015-2022) and is currently the President of the Administrative Council of the College of Europe.