Europe: what can culture do?


This new debate of the European Challenges series addresses the deep crisis that Europe is currently going through, which calls into question its history, trajectory and identity.

At the time of Brexit, in the face of the rise of populism and on the eve of the 2019 European elections, Europe is in need of reaffirming its core ideal of membership – a notion that too often proves to be synonymous with a bureaucratic apparatus in the eyes of the citizens. The debate questions the idea of cultural Europe: whether associated with illusion, disappointment or construction still to come, does this notion have a real meaning? And what can culture do for Europe?

The Speakers

Emmanuelle Loyer, historian and author of Brève histoire culturelle de l'Europe (Flammarion, 2017)

Jean-Claude Milner, linguist, philosopher, and political thinker, who has recently published Considérations sur l’Europe (Le Cerf, 2019)

Natacha Nisic, filmmaker and visual artist whose film Rather Die than Die (2017) explores the conflicts and traumas of the European history

Emmanuel Ruben, writer and cartoonist, author of Sur la route du Danube (Payot & Rivages, 2019)

Moderator Jean-Marie Durand, journalist, Les Inrockuptibles

Go to European Challenges | Debates

This new debate of the European Challenges series addresses the deep crisis that Europe is currently going through, which calls into question its history, trajectory and identity.

At the time of Brexit, in the face of the rise of populism and on the eve of the 2019 European elections, Europe is in need of reaffirming its core ideal of membership – a notion that too often proves to be synonymous with a bureaucratic apparatus in the eyes of the citizens. The debate questions the idea of cultural Europe: whether associated with illusion, disappointment or construction still to come, does this notion have a real meaning? And what can culture do for Europe?

The Speakers

Emmanuelle Loyer, historian and author of Brève histoire culturelle de l'Europe (Flammarion, 2017)

Jean-Claude Milner, linguist, philosopher, and political thinker, who has recently published Considérations sur l’Europe (Le Cerf, 2019)

Natacha Nisic, filmmaker and visual artist whose film Rather Die than Die (2017) explores the conflicts and traumas of the European history

Emmanuel Ruben, writer and cartoonist, author of Sur la route du Danube (Payot & Rivages, 2019)

Moderator Jean-Marie Durand, journalist, Les Inrockuptibles

Go to European Challenges | Debates