Baden-Baden – ESI on Europe’s past, present, and future

15 July 2026
Baden-Baden. Photo: Flickr/Jorge Franganillo
Baden-Baden. Photo: Flickr/Jorge Franganillo

ESI’s Gerald Knaus addressed a regional meeting of the CDU in Baden-Baden, Germany, speaking on the future of the European project.

Gerald opened by describing the miraculous peace and prosperity Western Europe has experienced since the Second World War. For example, while France and Germany had been locked in repeated, devastating wars – fighting each other three times within less than a century – today, they are among one another’s most trusted allies and trading partners. Such developments can be seen in Germany’s relationships on many borders, such as Denmark or Poland. They are proof, Gerald argued, historical rivalries can be dissolved through sustained partnership and integration.

Gerald next cautioned, however, against assuming that today’s peace is permanent. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resurgence of nationalist politics across the continent make clear that the old fault lines have not vanished, and threaten to return. Authoritarian and nationalist forces from Russia through to France and Germany are actively working to fracture European solidarity, seizing on the instability generated by conflict and mass displacement to advance their agendas.

Gerald closed by insisting that Europe’s answer to this threat must be to double down on cooperation, not shy away from it. The security, wealth, and liberty Europeans now take for granted did not arise by accident – they are the product of decades of political decisions grounded in democratic principles, human rights, and a liberal-democratic legal order. Holding on to these gains, he argued, demands a fresh and active commitment to European unity as the continent again confronts nationalism and authoritarianism.