For 50 years, Europe has developed a common policy in the scientific field. Sharing research competences with the Member States, the European Union now has its own programmes and institutions that make it a global player in scientific knowledge, including in the space sector. However, it lacks the researchers and infrastructures needed to create a genuine European research area. But Europe is also, in itself, an object of research. The historical originality of its integration process makes it, in the words of Jacques Delors, “an unidentified political object” that remains to be deciphered.

After starting his career as a journalist at La Croix and teaching European issues at Sciences Po and Boston College, Sébastien Maillard has been the director of the Jacques Delors Institute since 2017, which analyses European issues and formulates operational ideas to advance European integration in several key sectors. He is the author of “Qu’avons-nous fait de l’Europe?” (Salvator, 2013) and, with Enrico Letta, of “Faire l’Europe dans un monde de brutes” (Fayard, 2017).