Event
9 December 2026
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Time To Decide Europe Summit 2026
9 December 2026, 09:00 – 21:00
Grand Hall, Erste Campus, Am Belvedere 1, 1100 Vienna
»In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.« – Theodore Roosevelt
As the year draws to a close, attention is turning to the developments and forces that will shape Europe in 2027. Against a backdrop of geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty and rapid technological change, the decisions made in the year ahead will be more consequential than ever.
Europe will face these challenges during a pivotal election cycle. Nearly half of the European Union’s citizens will head to the polls, from France and Poland to Finland and Italy, testing the continent’s ability to make difficult choices at a critical moment.
The Time to Decide Europe Summit will once again bring together distinguished experts, policymakers, business leaders and emerging voices to provide insights into the forces reshaping Europe and to explore the choices that will determine its future trajectory.
Format
The Summit will be divided into three parts. First, ten leading experts from diverse professional and geographic backgrounds will reflect on the key decisions facing Europe in 2027. Following the lunch break, young leaders and emerging voices will discuss the long-term challenges and opportunities that will shape Europe’s future. Finally, we will examine the elections that are likely to have the greatest impact on Europe in 2027, including the US midterms and the elections in Poland, Italy and France.
Register hereAgenda
Coffee & Registration
Welcome & Introduction
Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director Europe and Democracy, ERSTE Foundation
Opening Remarks
Andreas Treichl, CEO, ERSTE Foundation
Keynote
Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs
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© ERSTE Foundation / Valerie Maltseva Hedvig Morvai
Hedvig Morvai is Executive Director Europe and Democracy at ERSTE Foundation. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans, Director of the Citizens’ Pact for South Eastern Europe and Office Coordinator of Partnership for Democratic Changes. Hedvig was also a founding member of the EXIT Festival and of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group.
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© ERSTE Foundation / Valerie Maltseva Andreas Treichl
Andreas Treichl is the CEO of ERSTE Foundation, Erste Group’s core shareholder, which promotes the common good with a focus on financial health and strengthening a democratic Europe. He began his international banking career at Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1997, he assumed the role of CEO of the then-small Austrian Erste Bank – now Erste Group, the largest retail bank in Central Europe – a position he held until 2020.
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© BMEIA/ Michael Gruber Beate Meinl-Reisinger
Beate Meinl-Reisinger has served as Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs since March 2025. Strengthening Europe has long been at the heart of her work, from her roles in the European Parliament, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, and various federal ministries, to her leadership of NEOS, which she has chaired since 2018.
Part I: Decisions That will shape europe
Lightning Round & Panel Discussion
What are the most important decisions that Europe will need to make in 2027? Ten leading experts from a wide range of professional and geographic backgrounds will seek to answer this question. Following a lightning round in which each speaker presents their top priority for Europe, the discussion will explore the major themes from multiple perspectives. By bringing together diverse insights and expertise, the session will provide a comprehensive and forward-looking analysis of the strategic choices likely to shape Europe’s future.
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© Teresa Walton Misha Glenny
Misha Glenny is the presenter of the BBC podcast In Our Time. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, he specialises in geopolitics, organised crime, and cybersecurity. Misha is an award-winning journalist and the author of six bestselling books, including McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime, which was adapted into a major BBC/AMC drama series; DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia; and The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-2012. He served as Rector of the IWM from May 2022 to March 2026.
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© Petra Travinic Ivana Dragičević
Ivana Dragičević is the founder of the Europe Future Centre, an award-winning international affairs journalist, and a strategic communication expert. She is also a member of the Europe’s Futures Initiative and serves as the Head of the Croatian Chapter of the Trilateral Commission. Ivana has written two acclaimed books: (Un)equals (2018), which examines the global order and inequality, and (Un)secured, which explores the future of security in the world (2023).
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Christina Caffarra
Cristina Caffarra worked for 25 years as a renowned economic expert in antitrust with a strong focus on the digital sector. Transitioning from her work in antitrust, she launched the EuroStack movement in 2024. She is now the co-founder and Chair of the EuroStack Initiative Foundation e.V., a non-profit organisation dedicated to building a European digital infrastructure along the entire »stack« – from chips and hardware to software, connectivity and AI.
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Emanuela Del Re
Emanuela Claudia Del Re is Deputy Head of the Foreign and European Affairs Department of Forza Italia. She served as EU Special Representative for the Sahel, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, and as a Member of the Italian Parliament. An expert in conflict and transition processes, geopolitics, geostrategy, security and migration, she has conducted fieldwork in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East since the 1990s. Emanuela is also a Professor of Political Sociology and a published author.
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© Linda Schäffler Maja Göpel
A policy advisor, sought-after speaker, and bestselling author – with titles including Rethinking Our World and We can do better (Scribe Publishers, translated into 11 languages), as well as Werte, (Brandstätter Verlag) – Maja Göpel is a professor of sustainability transformation at Leuphana University Lüneburg and the founder of Mission Wertvoll. She also hosts the podcast NEU DENKEN and moderates the event series Missverstehen Sie mich richtig! in Berlin.
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© Miquel Taverna Vladan Joler
Vladan Joler is an academic, researcher and artist who explores and visualises the technical and social dimensions of algorithmic transparency, digital labour exploitation, invisible infrastructures and many other contemporary phenomena at the intersection between technology and society. As co-founder and director of the SHARE Foundation – one of the leading expert and activist organisations in the field of digital rights in Southeast Europe – he plays an active role in organising, researching, creating, and advocating for public policies at the national, regional and European levels.
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© Črt Piksi Nika Kovač
Nika Kovač is a Slovenian anthropologist, sociologist, and campaigner dedicated to advancing democracy, social justice, and gender equality. Under her leadership, the Institute of 8th of March played a decisive role in the amendment of 15 laws and led two successful referendum campaigns in Slovenia. She also leads My Voice, My Choice, one of Europe’s largest feminist movements, which has collected over one million verified signatures. Nika is an Obama Scholar, a Vital Voices Global Leadership Honoree, and a recipient of numerous national and international awards.
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© Klaus Ranger Ivan Krastev
Ivan Krastev is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM). In 2019, he was awarded a Mercator Senior Fellowship, and in 2020, he received both the Jean Améry Prize for European Essay Writing and the Lionel Gelber Prize for his book The Light that Failed. A Reckoning. Ivan is also a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
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© Michael Gruber Alexander Schallenberg
Alexander Schallenberg is an Austrian diplomat, politician, and lawyer by training. He served for nearly six years as Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2025. In 2021 and 2025, he also briefly held the office of Chancellor of Austria. In June 2025, he became the President of the Europe’s Futures Initiative, a newly established think tank based in Vienna. Additionally, he founded and manages his own consultancy firm.
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© ECONtribute Moritz Schularick
Moritz Schularick is the President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and a Professor of Economics at both Kiel University and Sciences Po (Paris). He is also a Fellow of the ECONtribute Excellence Cluster of the German Research Foundation (DFG). His research interests encompass macroeconomics, geoeconomics, political economy and economic history. In 2022, he was awarded the Leibniz Prize, Germany’s most prestigious research award, and in 2018, he received the Gossen Prize, the highest distinction bestowed upon German economists.
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Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor is a fourth-term Member of Parliament and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. A bestselling author of 29 works of fiction and non-fiction, he is also a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India.
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Martin Vohánka
Martin Vohánka is the founder and CEO of Eurowag, a technology company serving the European commercial road transport industry. He is also one of the Czech Republic’s leading philanthropists. Martin founded the Blížksobě foundation, which promotes democratic values and education reform, and co-founded the Endowment Fund for Independent Journalism. He also chairs the Second Economic Transformation initiative, bringing together business leaders to actively promote the transition to a high-value-added economy.
Coffee Break
Panel Discussion continued
Lunch Break
Part II: People Who Will Shape Europe
Panel Discussion
Preparing for the future also means addressing long-term challenges that too often fade into the background when immediate crises dominate political and public attention. This session will provide a space for young voices to contribute to discussions on both the immediate challenges facing Europe and the long-term future they will help shape. Despite being profoundly affected by these developments, young people are still too often the subject of political debate rather than active participants in it. If Europe fails to understand how this generation experiences democracy, insecurity, and information, it risks deepening disengagement at a moment when democratic resilience is more important than ever.
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Sarah Bennani
Based in Paris, Sarah Bennani is a 21-year-old civic engagement practitioner and independent consultant specialising in civic education and institutional communication. She is the co-founder of La Jeunesse Populaire, a collective that mobilises young people from working-class communities to participate in civic life. Sarah has coordinated programmes for vocational high school students in France and supported an international democracy programme. She trained in international administration and political communication.
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Leander Klinger
Leander Immanuel Klinger is a 20-year-old senior software developer and AI researcher from Austria, operating at the intersection of technology and policy. His solo-authored research was accepted at ACM ICAIF 2026, the world’s leading conference on AI in finance. Leander is committed to ensuring that Europe plays an active role in shaping the economic and democratic future of artificial intelligence, driven by a fundamental question: why do we do things this way?
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Francesca Knaus
Francesca Knaus is a Berlin-based author and policy advisor. As a Senior Policy Advisor to the Bundestag, she focuses on Central and Eastern Europe, foreign affairs, and human rights, with a particular emphasis on EU enlargement. She co-authored Welches Europa brauchen wir? (Piper, 2025), co-founded the European Debate Initiative, and chairs the German Baltic Youth Exchange Network. Francesca holds an MA in East European Studies from the University of Amsterdam.
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Laura Skala
Laura Skala is a geographer and sustainability professional specialising in climate policy, environmental advocacy and disaster risk reduction. She previously worked as a Climate and Energy Coordinator at Ipieca, supporting international collaboration on climate action and the energy transition, and is now a sustainability analysis consultant in London. A long-standing climate activist, Laura led the Fridays for Future Croatia campaign in 2019, mobilising over 2,000 participants.
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Arsa Stojanović
Arsa Stojanović is a prominent student activist in Serbia’s “Studenti u blokadi” movement. Following years of frontline activism, despite police brutality, arrests, and death threats, he became one of the leading voices for democratic reform, anti-corruption and youth mobilisation. Through powerful speeches at mass rallies and frequent media appearances, he helped rally public support, culminating in the movement’s victory in Serbia’s snap parliamentary elections in October 2026. He is also a longtime environmental activist studying biology in Belgrade.
Part III: Elections That Will Shape Europe
While global attention remains focused on the consequences of the US midterms, Europe is set to face a consequential electoral cycle of its own. In 2027, three of the European Union’s five largest countries will hold national elections, with outcomes that could reshape the continent’s political landscape. This session will take a closer look at each of these elections. Leading experts from the respective countries will assess the key political trends and dynamics, explore the most likely electoral scenarios, and discuss the potential implications for Europe as a whole.
Spotlight on the United States with Jan-Werner Müller
Coffee Break
Spotlight on Poland with Piotr Buras
Spotlight on Italy with Nathalie Tocci
Spotlight on France with Thomas Gomart
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©Johannes Hloch Jan-Werner Müller
Jan-Werner Müller is the Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Politics at Princeton University. His research focuses primarily on democratic theory and the history of modern political thought. His recent publications include What Is Populism? (2016), Furcht und Freiheit: Für einen anderen Liberalismus (2019), Democracy Rules (2021), and Street, Palace, Square: The Architecture of Democratic Space (2026).
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© seesaw-foto.com Piotr Buras
Piotr Buras is the head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and a senior policy fellow. His primary areas of expertise include Germany’s EU and foreign policy, Poland in the EU, and EU politics. From 2008 to 2012, he worked as a columnist and Berlin correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza. He began his professional career in the late 1990s at the Center for International Relations in Warsaw, subsequently holding positions at the University of Wroclaw and the Institute for German Studies at the University of Birmingham. He was also a visiting fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin.
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Nathalie Tocci
Nathalie Tocci is James Anderson Professor of the Practice at Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe and Senior Fellow at Bocconi University’s Institute for European Policy-Making. She chairs ODI Europe in addition to the advisory boards of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and Helmut Schmidt Foundation. Formerly the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and an advisor to EU High Representatives Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell, she authored the European Global Strategy and spearheaded its implementation. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian and La Stampa.
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© David Atlan Thomas Gomart
Thomas Gomart has been the Director of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) since 2015. He is a member of the Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence’s (IHEDN) scientific committee and serves on the editorial board of the French journals Politique étrangère and Revue des deux mondes. Thomas writes for a monthly column on international affairs in Études and has published several award-winning books, including Qui contrôle qui? (2026), L’accélération de l’histoire (2024), Les ambitions inavouées (2023), Guerres invisibles (2021) and L’Affolement du monde (2019).
Closing Remarks
Apéritif
Stand-Up Comedy Performance by Valeria Vulpe
Valeria Vulpe is a Moldovan-born, London-based stand-up comedian. A US citizen who pivoted from mathematics and data science to comedy, she quickly established herself as one of the UK’s most in-demand voices on the comedy circuit. In 2025, Valeria was crowned the Spirit of Comedy winner, earning her the opportunity to open for Ricky Gervais at Wembley Arena. Her comedy combines mathematical precision with a dry, mordant perspective shaped by her Moldovan roots and experiences in the US and UK. Smart, understated, and sharply observational, Valeria finds absurdity in dating, relationships, and daily life with deadpan humour.
