Populism, extremism and euroscepticism are haunting Europe, creating a tense atmosphere in which fear, hate, anger and anxiety generate a climate of European Angst. The current rise of radical parties, such as AFD in Germany, UKIP in Great Britain and FN in France, indicates a drastic change in European societies and politics – and the more momentum these populist parties and movements gain, the more clueless the established political, cultural and legislative institutions seem to be.

Why is this happening now? And how are we dealing with it? The Goethe-Institut together with the European Movement International and other partners organised the European Angst Conference to shed light on these questions in a unique way, by holding a two-day conference that allowed 40 students, selected in an open pan-European call, to interact with leading voices on these issues. The conference aimed to leave the comfort zone of liberal consensus by inviting controversial thinkers, thus creating a space for passionate debate, for reflection and in-depth analysis.

Among the participants were the writers and philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Didier Eribon; author and journalist Elif Shafak; and Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller.

You can read further background info below:

• European Angst – STUDENTS manifesto

The 42 international students, selected in an open call, presented the above manifesto to Jo Leinen Mep in the final session of the Conference.

• The Conference Agenda

Download the 2-day programme to find out who our speakers were.

• News article: ‘Rising to the challenge of ‘European Angst’

Alex Godson, Head of Communications, European Movement International, discusses the rise of populist ideals in contemporary political narratives, and in the media we consume on a daily basis.

• An interview with Elif Shafak, Don’t push Turkey away

Eric Maurice, Editor-in-Chief, interviews the writer and columnist in the margins of the Conference.

You can watch the full conference below via the following video links:

And finally, take a look at the Conference photos here:

The European Angst Conference took place on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 December 2016 in Brussels. It was an initiative of the Goethe-Institut, in collaboration with 4 members of EUNIC, BOZAR and with the European Movement International. The media partner for this event is EU Observer.