France

On July 2nd and 3rd, the French-German-Polish Forum on European Structural Change convened in Paris.

The three-word motto cited by Hollande in his statement could serve as a summary of what is needed after the Brexit: “freedom, solidarity, and peace”.

The lack of a consensus culture in political life provides an explanation of France’s cautiousness towards the refugee crisis. Though, when it comes specifically to asylum, a lot has been done since 2012.

Since late 2015, the Heinrich Böll Foundation is in the process of setting up a new office in Paris, which will focus on four main activities: energy transition and climate protection, greening the economy, democracy’s crisis of confidence, and European politics.

In France economic and social problems, terrorism and internal security are viewed as more important than the migrant crisis. Seeing the migrant flows as a result of conflicts in the Arab world they deal with the problem with military assistance.

Whilst the refugee crisis has dominated debates in Germany since 2015, it plays a subordinate role in France where the war on Islamist terrorism and tackling the problem with military intervention.

Days after the Paris attacks, Europe is only slowly awakening from a state of shock. The events served as a painful reminder of our vulnerabilities from within and the daunting threats we face from abroad. A reflection on seven challenges looming on Europe’s horizon. 

Germany resolved to go down the path of its energy transition – the Energiewende. But it became clear very quickly at the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s two-day conference entitled “Energiewende – Think European!” in Berlin, there’s a lot of skepticism about and even deep-seated resentment toward Germany’s energy policies. Poles and the French, Czechs and Brits, in fact most of the EU27, are not on the same page as Germany.

During economic downturns, the debate about the limits of growth becomes increasingly important. The "décroissance" movement, which originated in France, proposes a departure from the model of a society based on a perpetually growing economy. Advocates of "decroissance" argue against growth in favour of “having less to live better” and propose an economic degrowth.