Starting a new year at Sciences Po in Paris
Another year teaching the course ‘Europe’s Coming of Age’ at Sciences Po in Paris. Many students, great interest in the challenges facing Europe today.
Public forum
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Europe in an era of great upheaval: Can the EU avoid being marginalized?
Loukas Tsoukalis and Tassos Giannitsis examine strategic directions Europe must take if it is to survive in an era of profound upheaval. The authors stress the urgent need for strong, decisive and visionary political leadership, with leaders willing to take risks, fight difficult battles and win them with a view to establishing the EU as a fully-fledged political and geostrategic actor
Click to read the article.
Moderation of a closed discussion with Η.Ε. Ms. Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova
On 15 December, ELIAMEP, in collaboration with the Delphi Economic Forum, hosted a closed roundtable discussion, moderated by Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, on the occasion of the working visit to Athens of H.E. Ms. Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova.
The event was held at the Athens Club and brought together policymakers, as well as members of the diplomatic, business, and academic communities, for a substantive exchange on foreign and security policy, hybrid and conventional threats, enlargement, defence and bilateral cooperation.
Speaker at the “Conference for the Eastern Mediterranean”
Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, participated in a panel on “Conference for the Eastern Mediterranean” at the conference “The Eastern Mediterranean Is Changing”, organized by the newspaper TO VIMA, the Delphi Economic Forum, and the Hellenic Council on Foreign Relations.
Prof. Tsoukalis spoke about the Greek initiative for the Conference on the Mediterranean, which he described as welcome but very difficult to implement. He argued that we should probably keep our expectations modest.
Also speaking on the panel were Giorgos Gerapetritis, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2013–2015), and Professor of Constitutional Law at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Evangelos Apostolakis, Admiral (ret.) and Minister of National Defence (2019); Anna Diamantopoulou, President of “To Diktyo” and former Member of the European Parliament; and Ino Afentouli, Executive Director of the Institute of International Relations (IDIS). The discussion was moderated by Periklis Dimitrolopoulos, Director at TO VIMA.
Watch the video of the speech here.
Loukas Tsoukalis Speaks on “Democracy in the Face of Contemporary Challenges”
Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, spoke at a roundtable discussion that concluded the conference: “Democracy in the Face of Contemporary Challenges.”
The conference was organized by the Marangopoulos Foundation on Tuesday, November 25, at the Goethe Institute. The roundtable was chaired by Ms. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, former President of the Hellenic Republic, and featured the participation of Alexis Papachelas, Editor-in-Chief of Kathimerini newspaper; Giorgos Karavokyris, Associate Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Law School; and Michalis Pikramenos, President of the Council of State, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Law School.
Speaker at the 4th Delphi Economic Forum Brussels
Professor Loukas Tsoukalis participated in the panel discussion at the 4th Delphi Economic Forum Brussels on “European Foreign Policy in a World of Conflict”. More necessary than ever before, European foreign policy remains however more of an aspiration than a reality. Europe’s coming of age is long overdue.
Keynote Speech in Thessaloniki at a Eurobank Event
On 4 November 2025, Professor Loukas Tsoukalis delivered a keynote speech at a major Eurobank event in Thessaloniki, titled “Can Europe withstand a world with Putin, Xi, and Trump?”. The event, attended by Eurobank’s CEO Mr. Fokion Karavias, featured Professor Tsoukalis discussing the profound global changes taking place and their implications for Europe and, in particular, for Greece.
Running a think-tank in a changing Europe – Podcast OTT
What does it take to maintain independence while navigating the turbulence of national crisis and European transformation? In this episode, OTT speaks with Loukas Tsoukalis, President of the Board at ELIAMEP, Greece’s most prominent think tank on European and foreign policy.
Keynote speaker at the at the 1st China-Europe Forum on Security Cooperation
Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, was one of the keynote speakers at the China-Europe Forum on Security Cooperation, organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing on 17 September 2025. He also spoke at the China-Europe Think Tank Dialogue the previous day.
These two major events were marked by frank exchanges between European and Chinese participants on a wide range of key policy areas, including geopolitics, security, trade, and climate change.
When Europe’s dreams turn into nightmares
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet empire in central and eastern Europe, and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, the West led by the United States won the Cold War. The world became unipolar and American hegemony indisputable. As for the Europeans, they saw they had much to gain with peace established on the continent and democratic governance replacing dictatorships, also with the opening up of new markets and the removal of economic borders, with powerful international institutions and common rules. A mild, global version of the European model in other words. This is what Europe’s dreams were made of in the golden age under the protection of the US, which the Europeans wanted to believe would remain generous leaving them space to promote their own interests. In recent years, however, the world has been turned upside down and those European dreams have curdled into nightmares. The worst thing is that Europeans are still struggling to wake up.
An openly revisionist Russia started a war in Ukraine because it believes the victors of the Cold War had repeatedly ignored its red lines: yet another proof that it is sometimes easier to win a war than to win peace. A war began in 2022 with Russia invading Ukraine on the very doorstep of the European Union. Lives are being lost by the hundred thousand, Ukraine is being destroyed, and the cost to Europe is enormous. And now the Europeans can only observe from the sidelines, frustrated if not fearful, as President Trump negotiates directly with President Putin. The Europeans are trying to influence developments in any way they can, be it by flattering the hegemon or making economic concessions. But without a realistic plan for the next day or a seat at the negotiating table, even though they will be the ones who will ultimately have to pick up the bill.
The other war in the Middle East is turning into a massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu’s Israel is establishing itself as a superpower in the wider Middle East region; a military superpower that systematically ignores basic rules of international law—a fact on which international institutions, humanitarian organizations, the Israeli opposition and thousands of Jews and others around the world agree on. But nothing seems likely to change as long as Mr Netanyahu continues to enjoy the active support of President Trump, or just being given a kind of carte blanche by the US president. Again, the Europeans are simply watching on, perplexed but also divided. They are unable to impose sanctions of any kind on Israel, or influence developments, primarily because Germany, for historical reasons familiar to all, continues to block any initiatives in this direction along with a few other European countries. History can sometimes play strange games when victims are transformed into persecutors. And Europe is losing its credibility. What European values can it exhort exactly? France, with a few other countries following in its wake, is trying to salvage Europe’s honour by declaring its intention to recognize a Palestinian state. But which Palestinian state?
The essence of the US-Europe relationship is also changing. American interest has for some years now pivoted to Asia for geopolitical and economic reasons. And not only. The demographic composition of the US population is also changing due to the steady increase in the proportion of American citizens of Asian and Latin American origin (indeed, many of President Trump’s voters have strong views on this matter). In his second term, the US president is in practice abolishing the distinction between foes and allies, while also establishing unpredictability as a key element of his foreign policy. And he is exacting a high price for US protection. The Europeans are giving in while hoping for better days to come.
A world in which trade, investment, technology and financial transactions are increasingly being turned into instruments of strategic rivalry and political power, a world without rules in which the right of the strongest increasingly prevails, is not a world for which Europe was at all prepared. True, it is trying to adapt and react collectively, because, individually, there is no hope for European countries. Things are definitely on the move, taboos are being broken—on European defence cooperation, for example. But the EU is still moving at a snail’s pace while the world around it presses ahead at high speed. The consensual processes of a (more or less) united Europe are extremely time-consuming, many national governments are weak and, most important of all, Europe suffers from a serious leadership deficit.
The image of European leaders at the NATO summit in The Hague and more recently of a smaller number of them assembled at the White House is certainly not one that will convince European citizens that Europe is a political power to be reckoned with, let alone offering a vision to inspire younger generations. And this is where a particularly dangerous vicious circle is set in motion. Europe’s leaders are not rising to the challenge and hence fail to convince their fellow citizens who in turn take more distance away from politics and the crisis of democracy deepens—this may sound rather familiar at home. Europe’s leaders will most likely claim that this is how they have so far avoided the worst. But they probably won’t convince many; indeed, I doubt they would even convince themselves.