AEF High-Level Group of Personalities at the State of Europe

Friends of Europe (FoE), founding member of the Africa-Europe Foundation (AEF) will hold its yearly ‘festival of politics and ideas’ - the State of Europe (SoE) High-Level Roundtable on 27th October, 2022. This activity will provide the timely opportunity to bring together stakeholders from both AEF's networks to profit from the discussions and connections which will take place throughout the day.

Now in its 19th iteration, this high-level event annually gathers 200+ influential figures from more than 40 countries to brainstorm on the future of Europe, identify out-of-the-box approaches to rising challenges, and collectively produce new recommendations for overcoming them. The State of Europe roundtable involves sitting and former (prime) ministers, CEOs, NGO leaders, top European officials, members of parliaments, influencers, top journalists, and European Young Leaders, in an interactive and inclusive brainstorm.

The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying wave of economic and climate crises, have fundamentally upended life as we once knew it. And just as we seemed to be nearing an inflection point in the management of the health crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a host of global ramifications added fuel to an already raging fire. The war in Ukraine is testing Europe’s determination, speed and unity. While the West and many countries across the world reacted in unison to the war, there is no doubt this event will reshape the European security architecture and impact Europe’s digital, energy and green transitions.

As geopolitics remains in flux and volatility related to inflation, rising energy prices and food insecurity exacerbate entrenched vulnerabilities both in Africa and in Europe, FoE and the AEF have decided to bring together, their respective steering committees, the Board of Trustees, and the High-Level Group (HLG) of Personalities, to convene a joint meeting and look to the current state of the world and the important role that Europe and Africa must assume as partners to rethink a new model for a social contract between citizens and their governments.

The AEF will take the opportunity to convene a face-to-face meeting of the HLG and Board of Trustees to present its Annual High-Level Group Report which will focus on “Climate Adaptation and Food Sovereignty”. Members will have the opportunity to reflect on the report’s observations and recommendation with the objective of receiving their endorsement.