Ostrum
  • News & Chronicles
  • France
  • Euro Area
  • United States
  • International
  • Politics & Society
  • Monetary Policy
  • Media
  • Decoding
  • About Philippe Waechter
Philippe Waechter's blog
  • Insights
  • About us
  • Expertise
  • Our people
  • Media

Philippe Waechter's blog
My french blog
  • News & Chronicles
  • France
  • Euro Area
  • United States
  • International
  • Politics & Society
  • Monetary Policy
  • Media
  • Decoding
  • About Philippe Waechter
  • News & Chronicles
  • Climate
  • France
  • Euro Area
  • United States
  • International
  • Politics & Society
  • Monetary Policy
  • Media
  • Decoding
Philippe Waechter's blog
Prévôté
Previous
  • 2 min

What narrative for Europe? Interim remarks – Part 2

  • 5 June 2025
  • Philippe Waechter
  • Europe
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

The third part of the story is cultural and societal.

Europe has been a leader on many social issues such as divorce, abortion, gender issues, freedom of expression, and intergenerational solidarity. This common foundation appears to be being called into question by elections in some countries. Europe was built on an open society and a desire for gender equality.
The story must provide desirable directions in order to have a form of coherence.

The demographic issue is also at the heart of the cultural dimension before being an economic one. The place of each person within European society is not the same depending on whether the population is young or aging. This question is not unique to Europe. However, fertility rates are too low to maintain the size of the countries’ populations in the long term without external contributions.

This question becomes economic when we consider the ability to maintain income levels and finance retirement. But it’s also a cultural issue. An aging population is more conservative, less innovative, and not just on technical issues. However, the European economy needs renewal. This is the message we find, in particular, in Mario Draghi’s remarks.
The European narrative cannot escape this questioning.

A new dimension must also be included in this cultural aspect: immigration and religious issues. This question is important because the issue is at the heart of electoral issues in many countries. We remember Brexit.

Can Europe find a common vision on these dimensions? On the economy, the role of foreign employment in growth has recently been essential. But we cannot link the migration issue solely to economic issues, even if it is part of the solution to boosting global income.
The European narrative must find a coherent position that is sustainable over time.

A second new dimension, simultaneously cultural and political, is that of defense. Since the Second World War, European defense has been led by NATO, and therefore largely by the United States.

The new challenge is the investments needed to compensate for reduced American involvement and equip the armed forces. It also involves defining a capacity to mobilize in the event of conflict. What would be the degree of acceptance among citizens of a European army and the necessary military training?

The time is ripe for conflict. Northern Europe is better prepared.
The cultural dimension is that of defining the capacity to mobilize, to live in a different approach from the “military”.

The narrative must integrate this cultural upheaval associated with the possibility of conflict.

To be continued

Related Topics
  • Europe
Subscribe to the newsletter

All the news from Philippe Waechter’s blog in your mailbox


Loading

Le magazine d’experts d’Ostrum

ABOUT OSTRUM AM
  • About us
  • Media room
  • Our publications
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
FOLLOW ME ON
EXTERNAL LINKS
  • Economists
  • Think tank
  • Central banks
  • Blog roll
©Ostrum AM 2025
An affiliate of : Plan de travail 2

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}