The State of the Union (SOU) is an annual summit for high level reflection on the European Union which acts as a bridge between academia and policy making at the highest level in Europe. Each year the conference becomes a hub of debate as experts of great institutional and academic relevance, business and opinion leaders, NGOs, think-tanks, journalists and representatives of civil society gather to discuss and debate the key challenges and opportunities facing Europe and Europeans. Each year’s edition is unique in its focus as panels and keynote speeches respond to the circumstances of a changing Europe and a changing world.

The success of SOU is based on five key elements: high-level participation and discussion, stunning locations in Florence, excellent networking opportunities, prominent media coverage and consistent timing. The conference falls annually around 9 May, the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, making Florence the centre of Europe on Europe day and an annual fixture in the European calendar.  

Topics of this year are following:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Climate
• Geopolitics
• Public Health etc.

Part of the conference are also fringe events, which are panels organised by the State of the Union’spartners and internal and external stakeholders. These sessions contribute alternative perspectives to the overarching #SOU2021 theme “Europe in a Changing World” and are intellectually independent from the main programme. For the full list of sessions, please visit https://stateoftheunion.eui.eu/fringe-event-programme/.

Conference website: https://stateoftheunion.eui.eu/fringe-event-programme/

Conference programme: https://stateoftheunion.eui.eu/programme/