Is Europe Safe? Julian Borger, Creon Butler, Bridget Kendall and Sam Fowles (Chair)
Event details
As President Donald Trump discusses the future of Ukraine with President Vladimir Putin, there is a serious possibility that the US might withdraw its security guarantees for Europe, in place since 1945.
What are the options for the region? What might Putin’s next move be? Will he attempt to use disinformation to destabilise eastern Europe or move from his current soft power influence in parts of the Balkans to invasion?
Pro-US Poland is especially vulnerable due to its proximity to Russia and Putin’s imperial ambitions. Yet Serbia, with historical and cultural proximity to Russia, its negative view of NATO, reliance on Russian energy and diplomatic support for its position on Kosovo, is consciously walking a tightrope between Russia and the rest of Europe, having applied to join the EU in 2009.
Should the EU hasten the accession of Balkan states to the EU? Should Europe develop an independent defence capability? Will Europe have to look to France and the UK to provide a nuclear umbrella?
The new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has indicated that his priority is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible. Yet relationships with the US need to be balanced with this.
What are the options, and what might the future of Europe look like? Taking an agile approach to emerging world events, our expert panel discusses these issues and more.
Our speakers include broadcaster and writer Bridget Kendall, an authority on Russia and East West relations, who, during her 30 years working for the BBC, interviewed numerous global leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin; Julian Borger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Guardian journalist who has been a correspondent in the US, the Middle East, eastern Europe and the Balkans; and Creon Butler, who leads the Global Economy and Finance Programme at Chatham House. The session will be chaired by barrister, author and columnist Sam Fowles.
Why not come along and join in the conversation?
This event is part of the Festival Focus ‘A World in Crisis?’ presented in collaboration with the Morrell Centre for Legal and Political Philosophy. You may also be interested in 'Disinformation, Polarisation and the Future of Democracy' and ‘A New World Order?’ which are taking place the same day.
About the speakers
Julian Borger is the Guardian's Senior International Correspondent based in London. He was previously a correspondent in the US, the Middle East, eastern Europe and the Balkans. He covered the Bosnian War for the BBC and The Guardian, and returned to the Balkans to report on the Kosovo conflict in 1999. He has also served as The Guardian’s Middle East correspondent and its Washington bureau chief. Julian was part of the Guardian team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism for its coverage of the Snowden files on mass surveillance. He was also on the team awarded the 2013 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) medal and the Paul Foot Special Investigation Award in the UK. He is the author of two books: I Seek A Kind Person and The Butcher's Trail.
Creon Butler leads the Global Economy and Finance Programme at Chatham House. He joined the institute in 2019, since when he has written and published on a wide range of global economic policy issues, including the interaction between macroeconomic policy and climate change, sovereign debt distress, the challenge of funding global health priorities, and the long-term implications for the international economic system of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Before joining Chatham House, Creon served in the UK Cabinet Office as director for international economic affairs in the National Security Secretariat and G7/G20 ‘sous sherpa’, advising the UK Prime Minister on global economic policy issues. He first joined the Cabinet Office in 2013 as director in the European and Global Issues Secretariat and designed the UK’s global Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016. Creon was also the British deputy high commissioner in New Delhi from 2006 to 2009 and has served in senior positions in HM Treasury and the Bank of England.
Sam Fowles is a barrister, author, and columnist. Sam’s legal work involves all aspects of government power, including constitutional, international, and human rights law. His clients include members of parliament, NGOs, individuals and SMEs. He is known for high profile political cases including Miller v Prime Minister (overturning the unlawful prorogation of parliament in 2019), Hamilton v Post Office (exposing the Post Office Horizon scandal), and the parliamentary inquiry into Voter ID. Sam recently became the first barrister in more than a decade to win a case in Parliament's Privileges Committee, successfully defending John Nicolson MP. Sam’s recent book Overruled: Confronting Our Vanishing Democracy in 8 Cases was described as 'unflinching and brilliant' (Times Literary Supplement) and was The Times "Best Law Book" of 2022. Sam writes regular columns for the Guardian, City AM, and Perspective Magazine. He appears in broadcast media including Radio 4's The Law Show, Good Morning Britain, BBC Business, Times Radio, and LBC.
Bridget Kendall is a broadcaster and writer with a particular interest in Russia, international diplomacy and security and promotion of language learning. Bridget read Modern Languages and Soviet Studies at Oxford and Harvard, before joining the BBC World Service as a trainee in 1983. She became the BBC’s Moscow Correspondent in 1989, covering the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as Boris Yeltsin’s rise to power, before being appointed BBC Washington Correspondent during the Clinton Presidency. From 1998 to 2016 she held the senior role of BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, reporting on major conflicts such as those in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. An authority on Russia and East West relations, during her 30 years working for the BBC, she interviewed numerous global leaders including Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin. From 2008-2023, she hosted the weekly discussion programme on new ideas and research for the BBC, The Forum. Her awards include the James Cameron Award for distinguished journalism and an MBE in the 1994 New Year's Honours list. She is the author of The Cold War; a New Oral History (2017).
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