Siena Vision Conference on the Europe of the Future – 2025

The European Union has been navigating uncharted waters for years, often without a clear sense of leadership. Despite enduring several existential crises, the Union has demonstrated remarkable resilience, surpassing even the expectations of its fiercest critics. 

However, long-standing structural issues have hindered Europe’s ability to fully engage in key battles defining the 21st century—whether digital, military, or strategic. Today, instability is reaching new levels as past certainties dissolve. Transatlantic divisions extend beyond policy disagreements on Ukraine, digital regulation, and trade; they reflect deeper divergences in fundamental visions of society itself.

Amid the convergence of three major crises – security, energy, and trade – the very survival and nature of the European project are being questioned. Yet, crises also generate opportunities for strategic innovation. This moment demands fresh approaches to policymaking and renewed engagement with an increasingly polarised public.

Thus, the Vision Think Tank, in partnership with the University of Siena, the Institute of European Policy Making at the Bocconi University, the School of Government at LUISS and the European University Institute (EUI), organised the sixth Siena Vision Conference on the Europe of the Future from 19 to 21 June in Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), Italy, in collaboration with several European political parties’ think tanks. The conference aimed to provide a multi-partisan problem-solving hub of ideas at a time which is crucial to Europe’s future.

Under the motto “Time to be bold”, around 80 intellectuals, policymakers, entrepreneurs, managers, journalists, economists and students gathered in Siena to join a conversation on the European future and its most recent challenges. In four plenary sessions and problem-solving groups, they discussed topics such as defence, democracy, globalisation, the next EU budget, protecting workers’ rights, just and sustainable economic growth, housing, and AI and the digital transition. The conference will culminate in the “Pontignano Paper,” outlining proposals that could shape future EU policies. 

At this year’s conference, FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues participated in the opening and closing panels and FEPS organised two sessions : 

• 19 June 2025, 17:00 – 18:30: “The next EU budget and beyond”, problem-solving group co-organised by FEPS in collaboration with students from the European University Institute (EUI) with inputs from Marco Buti (EUI), Gregorio De Felice (Intesa Sanpaolo), Andrea Maffezzoni (Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena), Francesca Canali (Mira Network), Lenny Benbara (Cluster17), Sabrina Cavatorto (UNISI), and Anna Marucci (Euronext), chaired by Victor Mallet (The Financial Times)

• 20 June 2025, 09:30 – 10:30: “The challenge of industrial policies”, FEPS plenary reflecting on the automotive sector with inputs from Maria João Rodrigues (FEPS), Roger Abravanel (McKinsey), Matt Steinglass (The Economist), Benjamin Denis (industriAll), and Giorgia Azzarelli (PES), chaired by Anna Kolesnichenko (FEPS

The outcomes of the conference are accessible here, including the Pontignano Manifesto.

Should you have any questions regarding the conference, please do not hesitate to contact François Balate, FEPS Social Policy Analyst (francois.balate@feps-europe.eu) and Vanessa Zwisele, FEPS Project Officer (vanessa.zwisele@feps-europe.eu)