[FR] Driving force behind a change of era? France and Germany in a changing Europe

The tenth edition of the Genshagen Forum for Franco-German Dialogue took place on 26 and 27 September 2022. Once a year, the conference brings together around 100 high-level French and German participants, who are personally invited and come from the fields of politics and administration, economics, science and the media, with a focus on mid-career professionals. At this anniversary edition, substantive debates on the future of Europe were addressed from a critical Franco-German perspective, while looking back on the lessons learned from ten years of the Forum’s existence.

Entitled ‘A driving force for change? France and Germany in a changing Europe’, the conference sought to answer the following questions: to what extent do the rupture caused by the war and the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe require a political, economic and institutional reorganisation of the EU? How can we assess the initiatives taken so far, the lines of conflict and the prospects for reform? How are France and Germany addressing these issues? Can they jointly assume responsibility and leadership commensurate with their stature?

To this end, it gave the floor to leading figures from France and Germany, including Veronika Grimm (Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), Christoph Heusgen (Munich Security Conference), Hendrik Kafsack (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Sylvie Kauffmann (Le Monde), Ronja Kempin (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik), Manuel Lafont Rapnouil (Centre for Analysis, Forecasting and Strategy of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs), Eulalia Rubio (Jacques Delors Institute Paris), Philippe Martin (Sciences Po), Linn Selle (German European Movement) and Heinrich Wefing (Die ZEIT).

Two workshops also developed solutions and recommendations concerning Europe’s current challenges in terms of security and economic policy. Finally, the results of the workshops were shared and discussed in the presence of members of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly, Brigitte Klinkert (Member of the National Assembly) and Nils Schmid (Member of the Bundestag).

Partners: Foundation for Political Innovation; French Institute of International Relations; Polish Institute of International Affairs; Franco-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry; TotalEnergies; Tönissteiner Kreis

Funding partners: German Federal Foreign Office; Mazars; Association for the Promotion of the Genshagen Foundation