EUROPE 2025 Rethinking European Sovereignty

March 26 - 27, 2025

Berlin | digital

On 26 and 27 March 2025, DIE ZEIT, Handelsblatt, Tagesspiegel and WirtschaftsWoche will be focusing on Europe: for the fifth time, the four leading German media outlets will be hosting their joint conference “EUROPE 2025”.

How can Europe’s sovereignty be strengthened regarding security, the economy and innovative technologies? At “EUROPE 2025”, we want to spend two days examining the most pressing issues, developing ideas and finding solutions because we care about Europe! You, too?

Europe is under pressure, both from outside and from within. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election will have noticeable consequences for Europe: for Europe as a business hub, for global trade, for the defence alliance NATO and the future of our liberal democracy.

But the EU must also be united internally. In the EU parliamentary elections, right-wing populist parties have made significant gains on the national level in many member states. They are promoting nationalist ideals and trying to weaken Europe as a whole.

Europe is confronted with the most diverse challenges of our time: Russia’s war against Ukraine, international competitiveness, the shortage of skilled labour, infrastructure, bureaucracy reduction and digital transformation, migration, climate change and the maintenance of a resilient healthcare system for all.

In these turbulent times, it will now become even more important to strengthen, support and defend the “European project”.

Together with our renowned guests – and you – we are looking for solutions to the challenges in these turbulent times!

Impressions

Initiated by

Handelsblatt

Tagesspiegel

WirtschaftsWoche

Get more information below

Program

Speakers & Moderation

Sonja Alvarez Deputy Head Berlin Bureau, WirtschaftsWoche

Annalena Baerbock Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs

Dr. Katarina Barley, MEP Vice President, European Parliament

Dr. Bahadir Basdere CEO, Trench Group GmbH

Nicole Bastian Head of Live Journalism, Handelsblatt

Nicola Beer Vice President, European Investment Bank

Dr. Alexandra Brand Executive Vice-President Sustainability and Corporate Affairs, Syngenta Group

Dr. Stefan Brieschenk Chief Operating Officer, Rocket Factory Augsburg AG

Dr. Christine Chemnitz Co-Director, Agora Agrar

Ruth Ciesinger Online Managing Editor, Tagesspiegel

Matthias Deiss Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Head of ARD Berlin Office

François Delattre French ambassador in Germany

Giovanni di Lorenzo Editor-in-Chief, DIE ZEIT

Dr. Rainer Esser CEO, ZEIT Verlagsgruppe

Dr. Martin Fensch Vice President Governmental Affairs & Strategic Partnerships Europe/Canada, Daiichi Sankyo Europe

Karen Florschütz Executive Vice-President Connected Intelligence, Airbus Defence and Space; Member of the Executive Committee, Airbus Defence and Space

Major General Dr. Christian Freuding Director, Joint Planning and Command Staff, German MOD

Christoph Glaetzer Chief Global Value and Access Officer, Johnson & Johnson

Dr. Frauke Goll Managing Director, appliedAI Institute for Europe gGmbH

Dirk Görgen Head of Client Coverage Division, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA

Daniel A. Gottschald Managing Director, Die TUM Campus Heilbronn gGmbH

Stephan Grünewald Founder, rheingold-Institut, psychologist, bestselling author

Dr. oec. Joachim Haes Senior Director Government & Public Affairs Europe, Intuitive

Charlotte Haunhorst Head of Digital & Member of the Editorial Board, Handelsblatt

Rieke Havertz International Correspondent, ZEIT ONLINE; Host of "Ok, America?"-Podcast

Lisa Hegemann Digital Editor, ZEIT ONLINE

Alexandra Jour-Schröder Deputy Director General, DG FISMA; Directorate-Generals for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission

Prof. Dr. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla Chair of the Executive Board, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Dr. Georg Kippels Member of the Bundestag, Member of the Committee on Health

Dr. Jasmina Kirchhoff Project Manager for Pharmaceutical Location Germany, German Economic Institute (IW Köln)

Nicolas Köhn CEO, Tagesspiegel Group

Jörg-Andreas Krüger President, German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU)

Dr. Jörg Kukies Federal Minister of Finance

Dr. Andrej Levin Managing Director and Partner, Head of BCG X in Central Europe, Boston Consulting Group

Michael Lewis Chief Executive Officer, Uniper

Sebastian Matthes Editor-in-Chief, Handelsblatt

Dr. Matthias Maurer Astronaut, ESA

Martin Merz President SAP Sovereign Cloud, SAP SE

Jens Mosthaf Head of GovTech, Campus Baden-Württemberg

Hildegard Müller President, German Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA

Anke Myrrhe Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Tagesspiegel

René Obermann Chairman of the Board of Directors, Airbus SE; Chairman of Europe, Warburg Pincus

Prof. Dr. Björn Ommer Head of Computer Vision & Learning Group, LMU Munich; Co-Director, Bavarian AI Council

Verena Pausder Chairwomen, German Startup Association; Entrepreneur, Investor, Co-Founder of FC Viktoria Berlin

Dr. Walther Pelzer Member of the Executive Board, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Hanno Pevkur Minister of Defense, Estonia

Stefan Pfeifer Chief Executive Officer, Unilever Germany GmbH

Petra Pinzler Correspondent of the editorial office, DIE ZEIT

Boris Pistorius Federal Minister of Defence, Germany

Patrick Pouyanné CEO, TotalEnergies SE

Prof. Axel Radlach Pries President, World Health Summit; Vice-Rector, DPU

Prof. Viola Priesemann, PhD Professor of Physics, Max Planck Institute; Member of the Young Academy, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences, and the Excellence Cluster Multiscale Bioimaging

Prof. Dr. Samila Sampsa Professor of Strategic Management, IESE Business School

Dr. Anna Sauerbrey Foreign Policy Coordinator, DIE ZEIT

Oliver Schenk, MEP Member Committee on Public Health (SANT), European Parliament

Mark Schieritz Deputy Head of Politics, DIE ZEIT

Dr. Tilman Schlick Vice President Medical Affairs & Medical Officer, Intuitive Surgical

Dr. Stefan Schmitt Editor, Science Section, DIE ZEIT

Miriam Schröder Executive Editor, Tagesspiegel Background

Richard Socher CEO, you.com

Émeline Spire Director Europe, Agora Think Tanks

Dr. Markus Steilemann CEO, Covestro

Simon Stiell Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Dr. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, MEP Chair, Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE), European Parliament

Prof. Dr. Ralf P. Thomas Chief Financial Officer, Siemens AG

Thomas Trappe Editor-in-Chief, Tagesspiegel l Background Health & E-Health

Christian Tretbar Editor-in-chief, Tagesspiegel

Margus Tsahkna Minister of Foreign Affairs, Estonia

Patrick van der Loo Country President Germany, Pfizer

Dr. Dominik von Achten Chief Executive Officer, Heidelberg Materials AG

Horst von Buttlar Editor-in-Chief, WirtschaftsWoche

Prof. Dr. Christof von Kalle BIH Chair für Klinisch-Translationale Wissenschaften, Gründungsdirektor des gemeinsamen Studienzentrums (CSC) 
von BIH und Charité