The vision of young Europeans on how to get Europe back on track

ThinkYoung asked over 250 European Future Leaders how to put Europe back on track. Their answers express their visions for tomorrow's Europe and contain useful recommendations for today's decision markers.

The 8th European Business Summit (EBS) took place in Brussels on June 30th and July 1st 2010, bringing together business, government and opinion leaders to discuss what is needed to get Europe’s economy and businesses back on track. To feed into the debate and drive the EBS agenda, a survey of CEOs in Europe has been carried out jointly by EBS, INSEAD Business School and Accenture, a global management consulting company.

In cooperation with these organizations, ThinkYoung, an independent think tank for and by young people, decided to ask the same questions to a sample of a select group of promising under 35 year old Europeans. This European Future Leaders survey sheds light on the way they want to see the future they will have to live in. With an average age of 25.6, the respondents are young entrepreneurs, businessmen and -women, politicians and members of civil society from all EU member states, as well as a number of non-EU countries.

According to the European Future Leaders, it is crucial that all the actors involved work towards a commonly identified goal and that the EU speaks with a single voice. Their concerns are of various matters: among them is the excessive bureaucracy which reduces success opportunities for small and medium enterprises. They also want the EU to keep its place as a pioneer in addressing climate change issues. Furthermore, in order to be competitive, Europe should become a knowledge economy which is based also on talent from outside Europe.