A Good Crisis (and how not to waste it): Timothy Garton Ash & Caroline de Gruyter

Europe seems to be in a permanent state of crisis. There is internal division, Euroscepticism is rife, and the European Union no longer seems to have a role to play in the new world order. Timothy Garton Ash and Caroline de Gruyter, who offer insights into our continent in their latest books, will come and share their ideas with us. Karel Verhoeven (De Standaard) will lead the discussion. oldest and newest continent In his own words, Timothy Garton Ash’s new book is ‘the shortest introduction to the world’s oldest and newest continent’. He draws on his exceptional experience as a reporter, academic and adviser to break his subject down into thematic slices in Europe in 7 ½ Chapters. In doing so, he succeeds in examining this complex continent and weighing up the options for the future. As always, his work is intelligent, surprising and highly readable. sunday’s children In her latest book, Zondagskinderen (Sunday’s children), EU correspondent Caroline de Gruyter shows how, after more than 80 years of peace, Europe is once more thinking about war and armament. Suddenly, ‘No more war’ no longer seems so self-evident an ideal. How is this affecting our world view and what can we learn from it? Karel Verhoeven (De Standaard) will talk to the authors and find out whether these two experts agree on the state of Europe and whether they envisage the same solutions. crisis ‘Never waste a good crisis.’ These words are attributed to Winston Churchill, who is said to have uttered them at the founding of the United Nations. The word ‘crisis’ stems from the Greek ‘krinein’, which means ‘to decide’. If it is true that we make the best decisions in dire situations, then we are living in fruitful times. With the new interview series A Good Crisis, we bring together, in collaboration with Flagey, writers and thinkers from home and abroad to assess how bad things really are and explore where the opportunities lie. about the authors Timothy Garton Ash is Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford. For half a century, he has been reporting on European politics. He has witnessed some of the most dramatic scenes to unfold on the continent and interviewed key European figures. The recipient of numerous awards, his work is published in 24 languages. Caroline de Gruyter has been writing about Europe for more than twenty years, among others from Brussels and Vienna. She is a columnist and correspondent for NRC and she also publishes in De Standaard, Foreign Policy and The New York Times, among others. Her book Beter wordt het niet, published by De Geus in 2021, has been reprinted several times. about the moderator Karel Verhoeven studied Germanic philology and political science and holds a PhD in linguistics and literature (Ghent University). He began his journalistic career in 1995 on the city desk of De Gentenaar, and subsequently worked as a reporter for the news desk of Het Nieuwsblad. In 2000 he moved to De Standaard, working successively as a reporter on the culture desk and for the weekend edition. In 2010 he became the paper’s editor-in-chief. A coproduction with Flagey