Europe is living through a crisis that has gone beyond its borders. A global pandemic whose consequences have yet to be determined and which raises searching questions as much about the past as for the future. We can ask ourselves whether the Europe of institutions has lived up to the circumstances and whether the solidarity among its members has worked. As for the future, the doubts are no less important. There are some regarding economic prospects and its geopolitical position. Will Europe be weakened or strengthened following Covid-19? Daniel Dombey, bureau chief of the Financial Times in Spain, will moderate this discussion with two sets of panellists from opposing political voices to find common ground.

5:30pm to 6.10 pm

Luis Garicano was elected MEP by the Ciudadanos party and is also a member of the Renew Europe group of which he is Vice-President. Before making it to the European Parliament he was a professor of Economic Strategy at the Instituto Empresa and at the London School of Economics.

Esteban González Pons has been a MEP since 2014. He is a member of Spain’s Partido Popular, and a representative in the Senate for various legislatures. He is the author of books such as Camisa blanca, Tarde de paseo and has just published the novel Ellas.

Eduardo Madina was Secretary General of Grupo Socialista in the Congreso de los Diputados between 2009-2014. He has worked as a technician in the European Parliament and taugh classes at different universities on International Relations and European Construction.

Anna Bosh, RTVE journalist specialized in international information, has been correspondent in Moscow, Washington and London. She has covered some of the most far-reaching social and political events of the last decades.

6.10pm to 6.20pm Break

6.20pm to 7pm

Meritxell Batet was appointed President of Congress in May 2109. A Spanish jurist and politician member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, she has also served as Minister for Territorial Policy and Civil Service of the Government of Spain between June 2018 and May 2019.

Dita Charanzová has been Vice-president of the European Parliament since 2018. She first arrived in 2014 as an MEP for the ANO movement from the Czech Republic, part of Renew Europe, which evolved from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Rebecca Grynspan was appointed Secretary-General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat in 2014, after working in the United Nations Development Programme by appointment of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She was Second Vice President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998.

Mr Garicano and Ms Charanzová will participate live by videoconference.

This session will be streamed live at youtube.com/user/IEUniversity