1. The Topic The European Union has already recognized the central role of innovation in keeping its competitive position against its main rivals. In facts, after the success of Horizon 2020, the Commission is proposing Horizon Europe, a program that will allocate almost 100 billion euros in research investment over the years 2021-2027, and will include the creation of an ad hoc entity, the European Innovation Council (EIC), in order to address matters related to innovation. Despite the great ambition shown by the Commission’s plan, it’s easy to see the huge discrepancy between Member States’ performances in innovation and therefore the need to push for a further convergence of them. As repo

Geopolitics of the EU n.1 In her first press conference as President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen stated that she will lead a “geopolitical Commission”. But what does geopolitics actually mean for an entity like the EU? Geopolitics is a complex matter, most people confuse it with the much simpler concepts of foreign policy and international relations, but these constitute only a microscopic part of it. Behind geopolitics lie all of the elements at the basis of a national state’s true identity, among these its history, its culture, its geographical arrangement and numerous other variables that shape a country’s needs, its goals and the way it relates with third parties. In

Introduction The debate in the roundtable firstly focused on establishing a common definition for what is otherwise called “European Identity”. The participants then tackled matters such as whether the EU should take active measures to prompt the European Identity to some of its Member States and how to, as well as discussing the ties between the European Identity and the foreign policy of the Union. Common definition of European Identity Participants agreed that: "the concept of European Identity refers to a common set of values that are generally respected and shared by people and institutions which greatly differ from each other in terms of interests and national identities. Among those v

1. The Topic and the Approach Over the last years, it has become increasingly obvious that the phenomena of ecosystemic degradation, upscaled pollution, natural resource depletion, deterioration of the ozone layer and global warming are all concurring to a wave of climate change that is all-encompassing and operates on a global scale, putting the survival of the entire human species at stake. Consequently, the topics of environmental issues and climate change have seen a surge in awareness and societal attention across the whole global community, and are now among the frontline topics on the global socio-political agenda - in particular in the European Union. In fact, over the last years the

As a member of European Generation only since last semester, arguably not the best timing ever to join an association, the 2020 Edition of the European Youth Debate was also the first one I took part in. However, I had already heard of this outstanding event during my two previous years at Bocconi and the idea of participating was among the reasons that prompted my application to EG. I was amazed by the concept of reuniting so many students from all across Europe in Milan to discuss the most pressing challenges our Continent is facing, hopefully drafting an effective policy contribution to be submitted to the EU institutions. Taking part in the European Youth Debate gave me the perception th