The war in Ukraine has united the EU, but it is also brutally confronting us with very fundamental questions. It is a European war, and as such it lengthens the already long shadows of the violent twentieth century. What is our talk of “lasting peace” worth, when its intellectual foundations are being shaken, and our security is imperiled in the face of violence, displacement, and nuclear threat? Do European democracies need to arm themselves and confront external aggression, or do these policies undermine the EU’s aspiration as a peace project?
Masha Gessen, Russian-American writer and essayist.
Philipp Ther, Professor at the Institute for the History of East Central Europe (University of Vienna), Director of the Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET).
Karolina Wigura, sociologist at the University of Warsaw, historian of ideas and journalist.
Claudia Gamon, member of the European Parliament.
Moderated by Eric Frey, Der Standard.
The discussion was held in English.
