Debating Europe

Not only did Trump win, he won much bigger than anyone expected, including his own supporters. There is widespread concern among European liberals and progressives that Trump 2.0 will be Trump unleashed. Among Europe’s right who now dominate governments in several parts of the continent, his election is seen as a vindication and a boost to their ambitions. Trump’s early cabinet appointments suggest that this will be a government of loyalists with little experience of government, and many are interpreting this to mean we will see even more radical policies than during Trump 1.0.

The Europa im Diskurs debate brings together Europeans and Americans from the right, left and centre to debate who a Trump administration will impact Europe. The issues of Ukraine, the US commitment to NATO will be of immediate concern but the threatened tariffs of 10%-20% on European goods could have a dramatic long-term effect on Europe’s economic prospects. Our experts will help you navigate your way through the ever more complex reality of a new order with Trump at the helm of the world’s most powerful country.

With

Balázs Orbán – Politician, lawyer, and publicist

Olga Pindyuk – Economist, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw)

Nathalie Tocci – Director of the Instituto Affari Internazionali, Rome & Europe’s Futures Fellow at IWM Vienna

Hannelore Veit – journalist and communications consultant

Moderation Misha Glenny – Rector, IWM Vienna

Balázs Orbán is a Hungarian politician, lawyer, and publicist. Since 2021, he has served as the political director for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and, since 2022, as a member of the Hungarian Parliament. Prior to his role as political director, he was, among other positions, the director of the pro-government think tank Századvég Foundation. Orbán is the chairman of and lecturer at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Budapest as well as at the Ludovika University of Public Service. Since 2023, he has been heading the Hungarian Institute for International Affairs (HIIA). He is the author of several books on Hungarian politics and strategy, most recently Hussar Cut: The Hungarian Strategy for Connectivity (2024).

Olga Pindyuk has been an Economist at Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) since 2007. She is country expert for Ukraine and EU Eastern Partnership countries. She has more than 20 years’ experience of macroeconomic analysis and forecasting. Her research interests also include geo-economics, foreign trade, in particular trade in services, and FDI. Previously, she worked as a consultant with the World Bank (Ukraine office) and the DFID Ukraine Trade Policy.

Nathalie Tocci is Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Adjunct Professor at the European Union Institute. She has been Special Advisor to EU High Representative and Vice President of the Commission (HRVP) Josep Borrell. As Special Advisor to HRVP Federica Mogherini, she wrote the European Global Strategy and worked on its implementation. In 2022–23, she was a Europe’s Futures Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences IWM and ERSTE Foundation.

Hannelore Veit is a journalist and communications consultant. She served as the Vienna correspondent for Voice of America and as a correspondent for the Austrian public broadcaster ORF in Tokyo. From 1993, she hosted the ORF’s evening news program, Zeit im Bild. From 2013 to 2021, she was the ORF’s bureau chief in Washington, D.C., and has since been working as an independent media trainer and consultant in Vienna and the United States. Veit has authored several books, most recently Wer hat Angst vor Donald Trump? Risiken, Chancen, Einblicke, Aussichten (2024).

Misha Glenny is Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and a former BBC Central Europe correspondent and author. He has contributed to the Financial Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian and newspapers, magazines, and academic journals around the world. He is a graduate of the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles and has taught as a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Columbia University and University College London.

The event is held in English language.

Tickets and more information: Europa im Diskurs – Debating Europe | Burgtheater

Debating Europe – Europa im Diskurs

This series of public morning debates brings leading politicians, scientists and intellectuals on to the stage of Vienna’s Burgtheater to discuss topical issues of political and social relevance. This long-standing event is a collaborative production of  Burgtheater, ERSTE Foundation, Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and Austrian daily DER STANDARD.