This meeting, entitled “Big Friendly Giant?: Europe Living With a Hyperpower”, looked at the role that Europe could play in a world dominated by American power.
Questions explored during this meeting at the British embassy in Paris included whether multipolarity could exist in this international context, and what could Europe do to help in the Middle East following the invasion of Iraq and fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The last of the meeting’s three sessions, chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet (Governor of the European Central Bank), was dedicated to economic and social issues in Europe.
Participants included: David Miliband (British Education Minister); Angela Merkel (CDU leader); Baroness Amos (UK Secretary of State for International Development); Helen Alexander (Chief Executive, The Economist); Sir John Rose (CEO, Rolls Royce); Hubert Burda (Chairman, Hubert Burda Media Holding GmbH); Mathias Döpfner (CEO, Axel Springer); Friedbert Pflüger (Chairman, Bundestag Defence Committee); and Christine Scheel (Chair, Bundestag Finance Committee).