Schuman report on Europe: State of the union 2024

By Pascale Joannin

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH EMMANUEL MACRON

As it faces a critical moment of truth, is Europe finally developing its own strategy?

Without losing sight of its hopes and ambitions in terms of green and digital transition, energy autonomy, space and maritime conquest, research and innovation, the European Union has changed a great deal in the last five years — in the wake of the health crisis, and now with war at its borders — and it is beginning to shape its own geopolitical posture. Questions involving European sovereignty, defence and the definition of a common position vis-à-vis other world powers, in particular the United States and China, are leading to responses that are moving in the right direction.

By linking its future to that of Ukraine, the Union is meeting the security and strategic challenges facing our continent, while ensuring respect for fundamental rights and its duty of solidarity. By adapting its agricultural, budgetary, financial and trade instruments, it acknowledges the constant need to stimulate growth.

In this election year 2024, with a new balance among the 720 seats in the European Parliament, and the appointment of a new Commission, a great deal of hope is being placed on the European Union.

As it focuses on the major issues shaping the future of Europe, the Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union 2024 not only brings together eminent figures from the world of politics, foremost among them the President of the French Republic, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Parliament, it also gives the floor to key players in business, research and diplomacy. Throughout the book, they share their analyses and visions of the added value that the European Union provides.

With the support of original maps and annotated statistical data, this book is an essential tool for understanding the multidimensional challenges facing Europe today.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pascale Joannin is managing director of the Robert Schuman Foundation

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marie B
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9782492763458

Book preview

Cover pictureTitle page: Robert Schuman, The State of the Union, Éditions Marie B

The State of the Union 2024 Schuman Report on Europe is a collective work created on the initiative of the Robert Schuman Foundation in line with Article 9 of law 57-298 of 11th March 1957 and article L.113-2 paragraph 3 of the Intellectual Property Code.

Original French texts translated into English by Helen Levy

The opinions expressed in this book are the sole responsibility

of the authors.

© All rights reserved, Fondation Robert Schuman, 2024

Layout: Nord Compo

Cover design: Nord Compo

Cover image: Philippe STIRNWEIS © European Union 2024 – Source: EP

ISBN: 9782492763458

This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Map contents

Contributed to this book

Some introductory remarks …

What added value for Europe? Successes, shortcomings, and prospects (Jean-Dominique Giuliani)

I. The Interview

European sovereignty is intrinsic to our European identity. (Emmanuel Macron)

II. And then came geopolitics

Ukraine’s EU accession brings added value and serves historical justice (Dmytro Kuleba)

Europe’s defence against Russia (Elina Valtonen)

The Europe that protects Europe: A Europe of defence and the defence of Europe (Jean-Michel Jacques)

The European Union, between the United States and China: Do we have to choose between being equidistance or simply being a follower? (Philippe Étienne)

Inspiring people with Europe in Space (Josef Aschbacher)

The Sea, a vital geopolitical issue for Europe (Rodolphe Saadé)

III. Hopes and Challenges

The Challenges of the 2024 Elections (Roberta Metsola)

The future of a strong European Health Union (Stélla Kyriakídes)

European research excellence: the role of the European Research Council (Jean-Pierre Bourguignon)

Europe and asylum: new paradigms? (Nina Gregori)

The challenge of coercive engineered migration: learnings from the Ceuta/Sahara case (Berta Álvarez-Miranda)

How will the European elections reshape the political landscape? (Pascale Joannin)

IV. Aiming for Growth

The European Green Deal – Europe’s clean growth strategy (Ursula von der Leyen)

Europe in a fragmenting global economy: leveraging the Single Market and competition policy (Benoît Cœuré)

Is Germany ready to change its economic and monetary policy? (Markus Ferber)

Stimulating growth in Europe: incentives or regulation? (Stéphanie Yon-Courtin)

For a Europe of competitive, carbon-neutral electricity (Luc Rémont)

The Common Agricultural Policy and the Green Deal: Brothers at odds? (Yves Petit)

Regulation on artificial intelligence: one risk may conceal another (Jean Cattan)

Making Europe fit for the Digital Age (Eric Peters)

V. Elections Monitor

Populists come to power in several Member States of a Union largely dominated by the right (Corinne Deloy)

VI. The European Union through Statistics (Olivier Lenoir)

Part I – The European Union in the global balance of power

Part II – The European Union’s geopolitical role after two years of war in Ukraine

Part III – European competitiveness and trade in the face of global trade tensions

Part IV – Economy and society in the Member States in the run-up to the European elections

Part V – The European Green Deal

Map contents

1957-2014: European Integration

Territories of Europe

Women in Europe

2. And then came geopolitics

Support for Ukraine

60 years of enlargement

Military expenditure in the world

World Security

Sino-American competition

Investment in the space sector

International maritime trade

Europe and the sea: challenges and strategies

The European Union’s overseas territories

3. Hopes and challenges

The European Union: attachment and trust

The health of Europeans

Research and development spending

Internal migration

The European Union and migration management

The main migratory routes to Europe

4. Aiming for growth

The main concerns of Europeans in 2024

Europe and the world: trade agreements

EU Budget

Public debt

World growth prospects

Europe and competitiveness

Nuclear energy: current situation and strategies

The origin of electricity in Europe

The Common Agricultural Policy

Artificial intelligence: means and dynamics

Start-ups in Europe

Digitisation of Europe

5. Elections Observatory

Political Europe in 2024 (governments)

Political Europe in 2024 (heads of government)

Populism in Europe

6. The European Union through statistics

Inflation

Euro Map

Demography

External trade to the EU

Intra-Community trade

Critical raw materials

Tax pressure in Europe

Pensions

Contributed to this book

Texts

Berta Álvarez-Miranda

Tenured Professor of Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, Berta Álvarez-Miranda was Director of Research from 2013 to 2017 at the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the government department for opinion polls in Spain. Her research in the field of migration includes both quantitative and qualitative work. She has surveyed attitudes of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries as part of a comparative study of European cities and has carried out analyses of public policy and international relations relating to migration.

Josef Aschbacher

Josef Aschbacher has been Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) since March 2021. This position is the culmination of a long international career in the space sector, including thirty-five years at ESA, where he was Director of Earth Observation Programmes and Coordinator of the Copernicus programme. Prior to that, he worked for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Austrian Space Agency and the Asian Institute of Technology. He holds a doctorate in natural sciences from the University of Innsbruck.

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

A mathematician by training, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was a researcher at the CNRS from 1969 to 2013, as well as being a professor at the École Polytechnique from 1986 to 2012. He headed the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette from 1994 to 2013. He was President of the European Research Council (ERC) from 2014 to 2019, then ad interim from July 2020 to August 2021. He currently chairs the Board of Trustees of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

Jean Cattan

Jean Cattan, General Secretary of the French National Digital Council, has a doctorate in public law from the Collège de l’Europe and teaches digital law and regulation at Sciences-Po Paris and the Université Panthéon-Assas. He is the author of numerous articles on digital regulation, social networks and artificial intelligence. He is co-author with Serge Abiteboul of Nous sommes les réseaux sociaux (Odile Jacob, 2022).

Benoît Cœuré

A graduate of the École polytechnique and the École nationale de la statistique et de l’administration économique (ENSAE), Benoît Cœuré joined the Treasury Department of the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance and then the Executive Board of the European Central Bank of 2012. Heading the innovation department at the Bank for International Settlements until March 2020, he was appointed Chairman of the French Competition Authority in January 2022. He is also Chairman of Cepremap.

Corinne Deloy

A graduate of Sciences Po and holder of a DEA in political sociology from the University of Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne, Corinne Deloy was a journalist at the Nouvel Observateur and Executive Secretary of the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol). She is a research fellow at Sciences Po’s Centre for International Research (CERI) and editor of the Robert Schuman Foundation’s Observatory of Elections in Europe (OEE).

Philippe Étienne

A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure with a degree in mathematics, Philippe Étienne became a diplomat on graduating from ENA in 1980. He served three terms at France’s Permanent Representation to the European Union, including as ambassador (2009-2014). He was ambassador to Romania, Germany and the United States (2019-2023). He was called upon to work in ministerial cabinets on several occasions, including as head of the minister’s cabinet (2007-2009), before joining the Elysée Palace in May 2017 as diplomatic adviser to the President of the Republic and G7 and G20 Sherpa. Promoted to the rank of Ambassador of France in June 2019, he is involved in various advisory and teaching roles, including a course on democracy and geopolitics at the ENS. He chairs the Mission for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of France.

Markus Ferber

A qualified engineer, Markus Ferber has been a Member of the European Parliament (EPP, DE) since 1994. A member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, where he is EPP group coordinator, he is also a substitute member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism and vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Affairs. Spokesman for the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Circle of SMEs in Europe (PKM Europe), he was Chairman of the CSU Europe Group from 1999 to 2014 and Chairman of the CSU Swabian District from 2005 to 2023. Since 2020, he has chaired the Hanns-Seidel Foundation. In June 2021, he was elected Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

Jean-Dominique Giuliani

Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani was Director of Cabinet to the President of the Senate René Monory and Director at SOFRES. A former Special Adviser to the European Commission and member of the Supervisory Board of ARTE, he is co-editor of the Permanent Atlas of the European Union, Éditions Marie B (5th edition), 2021. He is the author of Européen, sans complexes, Éditions Marie B, 2022 and La Grande bascule, Éditions de l’école de Guerre, 2019.

Nina Gregori

Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Asylum, based in Malta, since June 2019, Nina Gregori was previously head of the Asylum and Migration Directorate at the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior. During the Slovenian Presidency of the Council in 2008, she chaired the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA), on which she was a national delegate. A long-standing member of the Slovenian Interdepartmental Commission for Human Rights, she has been a permanent member of several Slovenian delegations to United Nations and Council of Europe procedures and instruments.

Jean-Michel Jacques

After twenty-three years in the French Navy, including seventeen in the special forces, Jean-Michel Jacques was elected mayor of Brandérion in 2014 and community councillor for the Lorient conurbation. In 2017, he was elected Member of Parliament for Morbihan and re-elected in 2022. A member of the National Defence and Armed Forces Committee, he was appointed rapporteur for the 2024-2030 Military Planning Act (LPM). He regularly publishes articles on European integration and defence policy, highlighting among other things its positive impact on strengthening the link between the nation and the armed forces and its advantages for the regions.

Pascale Joannin

Managing Director of the Robert Schuman Foundation. A former auditor of the 56th national session of the Institut des hautes études de la défense nationale (IHEDN), Pascale Joannin is the director of the Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union, published by Marie B, and co-editor of the Permanent Atlas of the European Union, published by Marie B (5th edition), 2021. She is the author of L’Europe, une chance pour la femme, a Robert Schuman Foundation Note, no 22, 2004. She has published numerous studies on European issues.

Dmytro Kuleba

A graduate of the Institute of International Relations at Kyiv’s Taras-Shevchenko University, Dmytro Kuleba left the Ukrainian diplomatic service in 2013 after ten years, citing his disagreement with former president Viktor Yanukovych, and took an active part in the Euromaidan protests before setting up the UART Foundation for Cultural Diplomacy. In 2016, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe. From August 2019 to March 2020, he was Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 4 March 2020.

Stélla Kyriakídes

A clinical psychologist, Stélla Kyriakídes spent thirty years working for the (Cypriot) Ministry of Health in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry before being elected to the House of Representatives in Cyprus in 2006, where she served as an MP for thirteen years. She was elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2017. Particularly involved in the fight against breast cancer at European level (Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan) and known for her patient-friendly approach, she has been European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety since 2019.

Emmanuel Macron

President of the French Republic since May 2017. Emmanuel Macron studied philosophy before entering the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), from which he graduated in 2004. He then joined the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), where he worked for four years before joining the banking sector. In 2012, he became Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic. He left this post in July 2014 before becoming Minister for the Economy, Industry and Digital Technologies (2014-2016).

Roberta Metsola

Elected President of the European Parliament in January 2022, Roberta Metsola has been an MEP since 2013. A lawyer by profession, she specialises in European politics and law. Prior to her election to the European Parliament, she was a member of the staff of the Permanent Representation of Malta to the European Union, and later served as legal adviser to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. During her studies, she actively campaigned for Malta’s accession to the European Union. In 2002-2003, she was Secretary General of the European Democrat Students. She is a graduate of the University of Malta and the College of Europe Bruges.

Eric Peters

A graduate of the École normale supérieure in Lyon and the French École nationale du génie rural, des eaux et des forêts (ENGREF), Eric Peters holds a master’s degree in molecular and cellular biology. Since March 2021, he has been head of unit (ff) in charge of the preparation, negotiation and implementation of the European digital policy strategy the digital decade 2030 in the CONNECT Directorate-General of the European Commission, where he has held various positions. He is also responsible for coordinating the digital aspects of the ‘New European Bauhaus’ initiative.

Yves Petit

A professor at the University of Lorraine (Nancy Faculty of Law), Yves Petit has been head of the European University Centre (CEU) in Nancy since 2016. He is responsible for the ‘European and International Studies’ Master’s programme and the Master 2 ‘European Union Law’. He teaches European Union law. His research focuses on European institutions, EU policies (agriculture, environment) and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Luc Rémont

A qualified engineer, graduate of the École Polytechnique and the École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (ENSTA Paris), and a military engineer at the start of his career, Luc Rémont joined the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, first as head of relations with development banks, then as a cabinet member. After several posts held in the private sector, he became Chairman and CEO of EDF in 2022.

Rodolphe Saadé

Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group since 2017, Rodolphe Saadé heads a fleet of more than 600 vessels and terminals. He acquired CEVA in 2019 and launched CMA CGM Air Cargo in 2021. He took over the newspapers La Provence and La Tribune as well as shares in the audiovisual (M6) and digital (Brut) sectors. At the same time he founded ZEBOX, a network of start-up accelerators, in 2018 and TANGRAM, a training and innovation centre, in 2024, two initiatives designed to support innovation and shape the future of transport and logistics.

Elina Valtonen

A former computer programmer, Elina Valtonen worked in the financial sector for around ten years before embarking on a career in politics. She became a member of the Finnish Parliament in 2014. She was also chair of the Finnish delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe. She is Vice-President of the National Coalition Party. (KOK) PARTY. Since June 2023, she has been Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Ursula von der Leyen

Ursula von der Leyen graduated in economics from the universities of Göttingen and Münster, and then in medicine. She was elected to the Lower Saxony Landtag in 2003. In 2005, she was appointed Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth by Chancellor Angela Merkel. In 2009, she was appointed Federal Minister for Labour and, in 2013, Federal Minister for Defence. In July 2019, she was elected President of the European Commission, becoming the first woman to hold this position.

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin

With a degree in European business law, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin has worked as a lawyer for the European Commission and as a lawyer and international adviser in the office of the Chairman of the French Competition Authority. She became mayor of Saint-Contest, Deputy Chair of the Calvados département, then Member of the European Parliament (Renew, FR) in 2019 and regional councillor for Normandy. At the European Parliament, she coordinates the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and is a member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. She is, among other things, rapporteur on competition policy, the consumer credit directive and the retail investment strategy.

Statistics

Olivier Lenoir

A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure (economics) and a former student of the Collège des Ingénieurs, Olivier Lenoir is currently a writer and executive director at Orange. His European career has also taken him to La Sapienza, the International Labour Office and the French Human Rights Ombudsman.

Maps

Lucas Destrem

A qualified geographer with degrees from the universities of Limoges, Geneva and Lille, Lucas Destrem specialises in critical toponymy and industrial heritage. As a cartographer, his work combines both conventional productions and original creations. He is also the author of a wide range of books and contributions on the promotion of regional heritage, the political naming of places and the legacy of industry.

Some introductory remarks …

What added value for Europe?

Successes, shortcomings, and prospects

Jean-Dominique GIULIANI

Since the health crisis, the European Union has changed. Since the Russian war in Ukraine, these changes have accelerated, to the extent that the face it presents today bears little resemblance to what it was just five years ago. The European institutions have had to adapt to the needs expressed by the Member States. They themselves have drawn their own conclusions from the changing geopolitical situation. These upheavals have led to spectacular advances, but also to some mistakes.

Green Deal

Europeans have decided to take the lead in the fight against climate change. They have used the European dimension and institutions to set themselves ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (90% below 1990 levels by 2040) and make the continent climate neutral by 2050. One hundred and sixty-nine targets to be achieved by 2030, 3 billion trees to be planted and 75 European laws have been adopted, while a third of the €1,800 billion in recovery and investment plans is earmarked for this policy.

Since her investiture in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen has made the implementation of the Green Deal a priority for her Commission. This has been the subject of very strong lobbying by non-governmental organisations and of spontaneous and vibrant enthusiasm on the part of national governments. All the European institutions, including the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank, have aligned themselves with these guidelines, which are seen as likely to generate new growth and give Europe a head start in transforming production and consumption patterns. Under this legislature, the commitment to the environment has become the main credo of European policies.

Extraterritorial digital regulation

The lack of regulation of the major digital players and their influence on the European market has led the European Union to adopt unprecedented and stringent rules that apply erga omnes. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted in 2016, the Digital Markets Act since May 2023 and the Digital Services Act, which came into force on 17 February 2024, are innovations that have never been attempted anywhere else. Coupled with other legislative texts requiring the removal of terrorist content, the fight against child sexual abuse, the protection of copyright and the integrity of online commerce by 2022, these provisions, and others to come, are the result of a ‘digital compass’, a veritable action plan designed to make the 2020s the ‘digital decade’ that will allow Europe to truly turn the corner in this area. In addition to their application within the EU, these texts also apply to the major foreign players present on its territory. Given the importance of the European internal market, they are intended to become the rule for these companies and therefore, little by little, to apply everywhere in the world. Faced with the reticence of the American authorities to regulate and the explosion in digital uses, Europe is trying its hand at extraterritoriality and is meeting with real success.

In addition to the normal funding from the European budget, almost €150 billion from the European recovery plan will be devoted to the digital economy in Europe. Europeans are aware that they are behind and are determined to catch up. A plan to support the manufacture of semi-conductors and the supply of critical raw materials (rare earths), accelerated digitisation of procedures and services for citizens (e.g. the Entry-Exit system in the Schengen area), and the digital euro on which the Central Bank is working, all constitute considerable advances designed to make up for the shortfall that has been pinpointed in these areas.

Geopolitics

Ursula von der Leyen began by calling for a geopolitical Commission. There is no doubt that throughout her term of office, European policies have been increasingly influenced by geopolitical imperatives. In its area of economic competence, the Commission has constantly proposed measures to ensure greater autonomy for the Union. This was the case for masks, vaccines and sanitary equipment to combat Covid. Above