Crisis in Europe. Europe’s Worst Nightmare: The Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic Security Framework
For decades, Europe prospered under a delicate yet advantageous arrangement: a robust welfare state supported by affordable Russian energy and the protective shield of American defense spending.
This trans-Atlantic security framework enabled European nations to allocate substantial resources to social programs, healthcare, and education, while maintaining relatively modest military budgets—averaging just 1.8% of GDP among NATO’s European members in 2022, compared to 3.5% for the United States, according to NATO data.
Inexpensive Russian oil and gas, which accounted for over 40% of the EU’s gas imports before 2022 (per Eurostat), drove industrial growth and domestic comfort, fostering a quality of life that became a global benchmark.
Europeans not only benefited from this system but actively promoted it and LECTURE IT.
Leaders from Berlin to Brussels embarked on international campaigns, advocating the merits of their model: a blend of capitalist enterprise and socialist safety nets, sustained by favorable geopolitical circumstances. However, those circumstances have now shifted, and the era of stability has concluded.
The Perfect Storm: A Continent in Crisis Today, Europe confronts a confluence of crises that threaten to dismantle its postwar prosperity. Small businesses, vital to many European economies, struggle under tax burdens reaching up to 50% in countries like France and Belgium (OECD, 2023), stifling entrepreneurial activity.
Innovation, once a cornerstone of European progress, has stagnated:
EU spending on research and development remains at 2.3% of GDP, lagging behind 3.4% in the U.S. and 2.7% in China (Eurostat, 2022). Government deficits have escalated, with the EU’s average debt-to-GDP ratio rising to 91.5% in 2023 (European Commission), a consequence of pandemic-era expenditures and energy subsidies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The social fabric is also deteriorating.
Poverty risks are increasing, with 17.4% of EU citizens at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2022, up from 16.5% pre-pandemic (Eurostat), as inflation and energy costs disproportionately affect the vulnerable. Reports of police brutality against minorities, such as the 2020 protests in France over systemic racism, have deepened distrust in institutions.
Censorship concerns are emerging, with the EU’s Digital Services Act (2022) sparking debates over freedom of expression versus regulation. Additionally, excessive bureaucracy—exemplified by the 26,911-word General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—fuels widespread frustration.
This convergence of challenges creates fertile ground for extremism.
Far-right parties, such as Germany’s AfD and France’s National Rally, have gained traction, exploiting fears of economic decline and cultural erosion. Populist successes in 2024 national elections signaled a rejection of the established order. Europeans long recognized that their prosperity was fragile, a structure vulnerable to disruption. That disruption has now arrived.
Europe’s Enduring Strengths Despite these challenges, Europe should not be dismissed. The continent retains significant strengths. Its governance systems, including Germany’s federal framework and Scandinavia’s transparent democracies, remain global models.
Quality of life, even under strain, surpasses many peers:
the EU boasts a life expectancy of 81.3 years (WHO, 2023) and ranks highly on the UN’s Human Development Index. Public policy innovation excels in areas like renewable energy, with the EU targeting 42.5% renewables by 2030 (REPowerEU plan).
Cities like Vienna and Zurich continue to lead global livability indices (Mercer and The Economist), while public-private partnerships have fostered smart cities—Stockholm’s eco-districts and Barcelona’s tech-driven infrastructure—balancing efficiency and sustainability.
Madrid, Malaga, and Valencia in Spain are admirable examples of dynamic cities with economic resilience. They attract millions of people from around the world, offering security, enjoyment, friendliness, integration and business opportunities for newcomers. (Internations 2024)
Nevertheless, as conditions grow more challenging, Europe must adapt to avoid irrelevance. The decline of affordable Russian energy (imports fell to 15% of EU gas by 2024, per IEA) and an uncertain U.S. security commitment, underscored by skepticism toward NATO during the Trump era, necessitate a strategic reassessment.
Five Recommendations for a Resilient, Revitalized Europe
1. Rebuild Energy Independence with Green Innovation Europe must prioritize renewables and nuclear power to replace Russian fossil fuels. In 2023, wind and solar generated 22% of EU electricity (Ember); scaling this to 50% by 2035 is achievable with focused investment—€800 billion annually, per McKinsey estimates. Leveraging France’s nuclear expertise and Denmark’s wind technology could reduce geopolitical dependence while boosting employment.
2. Reduce Bureaucracy to Support Entrepreneurship Streamlining regulations is essential to bolster small businesses. Simplifying tax codes—reducing Belgium’s 50% effective rate for SMEs to 30% through clearer deductions—and eliminating regulatory redundancies could enhance competitiveness. Adopting Estonia’s digital governance model could improve the EU’s standing on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index.
3. Strengthen Defense Autonomy With U.S. reliability in question, Europe must enhance its military capacity. Increasing collective defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, from 1.8%, and expanding the EU’s €8 billion Defense Fund could support joint initiatives, such as advanced drone development, reducing reliance on NATO.
4. Invest in Human Capital to Address Poverty Combating rising poverty requires investment in education and reskilling. Scaling Germany’s vocational training model across the EU, backed by a €50 billion “Future Skills” initiative, could equip the 17.4% at-risk population for economic shifts, while progressive taxation mitigates inequality.
5. Promote Balanced Digital Regulation The EU must refine the Digital Services Act to prioritize transparency over restrictive control, drawing on Switzerland’s light-touch regulatory approach. This would foster trust and innovation while preserving freedom of expression.
Conclusion: A Pivot, Not a Collapse The end of the trans-Atlantic security framework need not mark Europe’s demise. Its history of resilience—from postwar recovery to the euro’s endurance—demonstrates a capacity for adaptation. By harnessing its strengths and addressing its vulnerabilities, Europe can emerge not merely intact but fortified, charting a course on its own terms.
This version maintains a serious, analytical tone while refining the language for clarity and precision, as requested.
Our vision is straightforward: Redefine the concept of leadership. In our perspective, leaders making a social impact are no longer limited to armed revolutionaries, street activists, or politicians addressing the masses, let alone foundations.
We are convinced that leaders who truly have a social impact include companies that generate wealth, startups with groundbreaking technology, and public policies that utilize innovation and evidence to address social, environmental, and economic challenges.
In 2010, the Latinomics Leadership Forum was born, to later evolve into what you know today as The Global School for Social Leaders.
Since then, we have committed to redefine leadership:
We coined the term Holistic Leadership,
We compiled the most important leadership lessons from more than 300 interviews with renowned leaders.
We designed more than 30 methodologies and tools for founders & decision makers.
More than 1,000 leaders have participated in our programs.
We reach more than 100,000 public & private sector leaders via social media and email.
It all started as a blog, and today we have become an awarded educational organization, recognised by the UN, The University of Oxford, the EU commission and The Government of Austria.
Humanity is facing one of the most radical changes in our history:
Global geopolitics is undergoing a big shift in powers, leading to changes in rules, models, systems, and leadership.
The technological race is reshaping the way we work, rendering many current knowledge and skills obsolete and paving the way for entirely new ones.
The climate crisis will be the most difficult challenge we will have to face, forcing us to develop new ways of subsistence and governance as a society.
In this emerging world, there is a pressing need for a fresh vision and redefinition of leadership that encompasses our historical context.
The Global School for New Leadership seeks to amplifying the voices of global leaders from both the public and private sector, who are actively addressing present challenges:
Leaders who draw upon the lessons of the past to shape novel solutions for present and future issues.
Leaders who possess a comprehensive perspective on our interventions while also being connected to a growing universal identity.
Conscious leaders about our responsibility as temporary managers of our planet.
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We are honoured to extend you this invitation to become our special guest in our event “Holy-Land Recovery Program” to be held the following 22nd of September, 2021 at 16:00 CET.
The event aims at connecting the best touristic providers across the Holy Land, with worldwide travellers, pilgrims & tour operators across the world.
The Holy Land is one of the most beautiful destinations around the world with an incredible offer for any person looking for a truly holistic, spiritual and life-changing experience.
Limited Spots. Confirm by email to: lorena.gomez@logoz-consulting.com, or hello@theglobal.school.
By Whatsapp: +43 677 61 73 5010, or +43 676 36 49 863
What you can expect from this event: • The Holy Land as a top tourism destination. • Beyond tourism, life-changing experiences. • Reliable partners in the Holy Land. • What to expect in the Holy Land.
PROGRAM: Date: Wednesday September 22 Time: 16:00 CET Place: ZOOM
AGENDA: 16:00 – 16:15. WELCOME by Dr. Salah Abdel Shafi, Ambassador Mission of the State of Palestine to Austria and Slovenia 16:15 – 17:00. Holy-Land as Top Destination Worldwide by HLITOA. 17:00 – 18:00. PANEL – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN TIMES OF COVID. Travis Pittman – CEO Tourradar Austria 18:00 – 19:00. Networking: in breaking rooms.
Hello, my name is Lorena Gómez, I am a human passionate for the planet, but also a tourism consultant with over 15 years of international experience. Contact me on Linkedin here.
More and more people are choosing Purpose-Driven Stories. This year, COVID-19 brought many days of isolation, which allowed us to rethink our purpose, goals, projects, and in general our life. This year was also the year of Climate Movements.
Synch with this trend, we want to share with you the best of our content this 2020. More than 700,000 impressions throughout this year.
Best Articles:
1. Letter to Humanity from 2050 by Christiana Figueres, former Executive UN Climate Change Convention. CLICK HERE
2. Doughnut Economics by Claudia Winkler, Co-Founder of GOOOD Network. CLICK HERE.
3. Happiness is expensive by Roberto A. Arrucha, Director of The Global School for Social Leaders. CLICK HERE.
Best Videos*
1. 5 words for a local future by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Director of Local Futures.
2. 5 Indigenous Activist you should follow.
3. Earth Overshoot Day EXPLAINED.
Best Linkedin post
1. Pears grow in Argentina, packed in Thailand. CLICK HERE.
2. All 7 Countries With The Best Response To Covid-19 Have 1 Thing In Common: Women Leaders.
The world today is not the same as before as a result of a variety of factors and the intense effect of covid 19. Also, organizations have had external factors that have shaped their culture and performance.
Some organisations have obtained great results and others have suffered during this pandemic.
There is fatigue caused by the pandemic that is affecting organizations and employees right now. Besides, there is a massive economic crisis, widespread social unrest and technological forces that are reshaping and causing business model disruption and workforce automation.
This means that companies culture has been forced to change, while some leaders remain the same. However, they acknowledge the importance of how a new culture can improve and improve results in this challenging new world. Certain dysfunctional patterns of cultural behaviour are common by this fatigue.
There is an increasing number of unproductive meetings that are causing micromanagement, team burnout and lack of motivation. Employees are working more hours now than before.
They spend more hours in unproductive virtual meetings. There is a lack of trust from some managers and a sense of insecurity that it is affecting employees. Tackle this directly is the best way to solve it.
Leaders need to listen to their employee’s needs and give clarity of what is expected from their roles in this challenging moment.
Due to the increase of virtual meetings and tasks, managers and supervisors don´t have enough time to listen to their teams and their priorities.
A team loses confidence in the leaders as a result of poor communication. Leaders lose confidence in their employees due to lack of results, coordination and accountability. The negativity energy increases rumours that create dysfunctional habits and therefore affect productivity and morale.
The negativity energy affects a few employees, who create rumours against the organisation and its leaders; As a result, they resist any action towards a cultural transformation.
Furthermore, these employees influence other members of the team who are currently in need of clarity and leadership. A cultural change is based on the execution needed to achieve business outcomes. It is based on the real habits of collective execution and these habits of collective execution reflect the real culture of the organisation.
Therefore, there are critical questions that leaders can rise to recognise if their culture is helping achieve the expected results.
1. What dysfunctional collective habits are affecting the business and why? One example could be unproductive meetings.
2. What new habits of collective execution can leaders create that can help achieve better results in a better way?
3. What other barriers are affecting culture and productivity, both at the same time?
4. What kind of support is needed to facilitate the changes in the culture?
Lastly, leaders must align results with the type of culture needed.
Furthermore, they must facilitate and track the cultural transition through habits of execution aligned with the priorities of the organization.
Every day of our lives, we are faced with different situations, Events and Issues. These phenomena can be either the determinants to the obstacles and solutions to our Challenges depending on the measures and steps adopted by you and hence lead to any outcome you encounter in your life while carrying out your day to day activities.
When a team of a particular organization or group is undergoing certain tasks or projects, the leader or manager is to choose among two alternative policy or measures which is either, working with “open system” or working with “close system” to get needed results in the process of carrying any task or interacting with team members.
This is the situation whereby the team is allowed to have access to the necessary details of any project, edit and make suggestions and recycle the initial project without any restriction, ie the team members have had an inclusive engagement and no one is left behind or marginalized in the task.
During Meeting or discussions, the Leader might choose to restrict the team members from making suggestions unless He gives room for Suggestions the idea of Open is like the policy of Commercialization which will encourage innovation, Creativity and industrialization of the Economy since there is Healthy competition in the Market.
2. Working with a Closed-system:
In this case, the team members are not given the total freedom to be Innovative since they will be restricted and not given access to the full or major information about the ongoing Project and can only work on any section or part of the project when they are permitted by the Leader.
And if in a discussion or meeting the members might only be allowed to take instructions and not allowed to give suggestions unless the Leader gives room for that.
In this Working close is just like socialism system where the Government will use Laws and policies to restrict the Business productivity of an Enterprise, which in turn impedes innovation and industrialisation.
On this note, “working open” is the act of encouraging someone to try any tasks or projects when he or she asks for your opinion, while “working closely” is the act of discouraging someone from embarking on any proposed Tasks or projects when he or she seeks your opinion.
The main focus is on taking up or deciding on the measure that will yield success and boost productivity and progress with Mutual understanding among the whole Team members and the leader.
There are times when we as individuals in our daily lives make decisions and at the end regret amid the unpleasant outcome, the only challenge is the inability to study the situation and make a good decision that will help us achieve a positive result.
Any forward-thinking leader that wants to achieve meaningful progress and attain greater heights needs to make workflow and process liberal in the workplace by adopting Open system over the “Closed System”.
The reason is that there will be Mutual understanding, inclusiveness and effective collaboration which will lead to value delivery and Teamwork when working open.
In conclusion, the act of working open enables the activeness and commitment of the members to be on the high side which will ensure efficiency and productivity in the process of Teamwork and hence ensure that everyone gets Hands-on(every one sacrifice their leisure for tasks to be done).
There is no doubt: The Climate Movement took off thanks to NGOs and Activists, leaving the academia full of critics for inaction, excess of ego and pointless debates. Despite the failure of academia on calling to action for climate change, or even promoting a meaningful change, this time every intervention needs to be supported.
A letter signed by more than 100 economists published in the Guardian outlines how the “carbon economy” amplifies racial, social and economic inequities, and lays out a strategy for improving this situation. “From deep-rooted racism to the Covid-19 pandemic, from extreme inequality to ecological collapse, our world is facing dire and deeply interconnected emergencies.
But as much as the present moment painfully underscores the weaknesses of our economic system, it also gives us the rare opportunity to reimagine it. As we seek to rebuild our world, we can and must end the carbon economy,” they write.
The effects on Climate Change have been more deadly all around the world, this “exposes the hard reality of climate change”. It adds:
“Experts argue that every country must fundamentally rethink how it prepares for similar disasters as the effects of global warming accelerate.”
They call on:
1. Governments must actively phase out the fossil fuel industry.
2. Institutions of financial power must end their fossil fuel investments and funding.
3. People must build political power to advocate for a fairer economic system.
4. Policymakers to recognize the role that meaningful climate action has to play in rebuilding our world – to recognize that a healthy economy and society require a healthy planet.
Airbnb has announced it will partner with Safe Ireland, with the support of Women’s Aid, to assist domestic violence survivors in Ireland at a crucial time when emergency accommodation is particularly needed.
Airbnb will work through its hotel partners to provide temporary accommodation, free of charge, when specialist emergency accommodation (refuge) is not available.
Domestic violence services throughout the country will assess the safety needs of survivors before facilitating bookings into the temporary hotel accommodation.
All those accommodated as part of this unique initiative will continue to be closely linked in and supported by domestic violence specialists.
Safe Ireland is the national policy and services hub for 39 domestic abuse member services.
Safe Ireland will coordinate the initiative with its frontline services and support from the Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline. All accommodation costs are sourced and paid for by Airbnb and HotelTonight, part of the Airbnb family.
The partnership comes at a crucial time as Ireland moves towards opening up fully following the COVID-19 lockdown. Capacity in domestic violence specialist accommodation is down approximately 25% because of the need to ensure safe social distancing and to allow for isolation units if needed.
At the same time, domestic violence services are reporting a surge in calls and needs, particularly since the country started to ease restrictions.
Many services are reporting that they are responding to the double trauma of lockdown and months of abuse with many seeing a particular increase in women with multiple children coming forward and looking for crisis accommodation in the community.
The timely partnership between Airbnb, Safe Ireland and Women’s Aid has received the backing of Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, who has been a leading advocate on domestic violence issues in Ireland.
Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, said,“We want victims of this horrific crime to know that they are a priority for us and that support is always available. I welcome this valuable new initiative which complements the important work that the Government has undertaken in this area since the start of the pandemic.
We are doing everything we can to protect and support all victims of domestic violence, especially now as Ireland re-opens after Covid-19.”
Caitriona Gleeson, Programme and Communications Manager with Safe Ireland, said, “We welcome the community leadership shown by Airbnb with this partnership. The pandemic has shone a light onto the epidemic of domestic violence that continues in this country.
It has also sparked an incredible outpouring of empathy, understanding and support for survivors trapped with abusers. The security of safe accommodation is essential for women and children to be able to make their first step towards freedom and recovery. This generous contribution by Airbnb means that we will be able to support many more women as they come forward following lockdown.”
Sarah Benson, CEO of Women’s Aid, said, “This is a really welcome, collaborative initiative bringing together the generosity of Airbnb and dedicated specialist domestic abuse organisations to meet the needs of women and children forced to flee their homes because of violence and abuse.
The Women’s Aid National Helpline responded to 39% more calls during the crisis compared to the same period in 2019. We are delighted to be assisting referrals through our National Freephone Helpline so that this supplementary accommodation is available 24/7 where refuge may not be an option.”
Jean Hoey, Public Policy Lead for Airbnb in Ireland, said: “In recent months throughout the pandemic, most of us have been confined to the safety of our homes. For those in abusive situations however, that environment can feel more like a prison.
We are proud to support the heroic efforts of Women’s Aid, Safe Ireland and local frontline services by offering temporary safe havens for survivors right across the country.”
Similar initiatives were recently launched by Airbnb in the US.
