Europe à la Carte

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall “fell”. A generation of young Europeans has grown up since then. For them, the East-West separation of the world and of Europe, the French-German reconciliation, the emergence of democracy on European territory, the elimination of borders result more from history books and historical pieces of evidence. This “Erasmus generation”, brought up with the Internet, took to the roads of a Schengen Europe without borders, thanks to low-cost airlines, and developed its vision of Europe through the prism of globalization. Young people who nevertheless ask themselves: what are Europe’s place and role in the global world? Is she an aging superpower condemned to decline? What are her assets as she faces the full-blown rise of emerging countries? Would the explosion of migratory flows modify the cultures and identities of European societies? What about the challenges of diversity? Europe, what for? From Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations to the virtuoso pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, through Inès Sastre, a Lancôme top model; Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the League of Arab States; the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf; the European commissioner, Viviane Reding; the editor of the top Indian economic magazine, T. N. Ninan… almost 70 great decision-makers, role-players and innovators of the whole world answer these questions sharing visions of “their Europe”. This book also gives a voice to young leaders, still relatively unknown to the general public. They are the rising generation and their opinions – often ruffling – provide the keys to understanding Europe’s new assets. A “Europe à la carte”, a surprising mosaic, enhanced by previously unpublished and unusual maps whose pertinent features illuminate today’s realities; maps that often have more to say than long analyses. A book of curiosities that will most certainly awaken in the reader a new “desire for Europe”.