European futures. Five possible scenarios for 2010

Book abstract:

The Future of Europe is one of the key debates taking place around Europe at the beginning of the 21st Century with the European Union itself devoting a whole website to the issue. This book is based on a project launched by the European Commission Forwards Studies Unit at the beginning of 1997 with the aim of stimulating debate inside and outside the Commission on the future of European integration and to develop a tool to put the Union's policies and strategies into perspective and to contribute to their improvement.

The project 'Scenarios Europe 2010' relied on the expertise of civil servants of the European Commission and through a series of brainstorming sessions ideas emerged which have been brought together and reproduced in the format of the five scenarios presented here. The scenarios are entitled: 'Triumphant Markets', 'the Hundred Flowers'; 'Shared responsibilities'; 'Creative Societies' and 'Turbulent Neighbourhoods'.

Following the presentation of these scenarios, chapter six analyses a number of deep-lying trends affecting Europe that are broadly speaking set with the time horizon of 2010. These trends complement the scenarios in the book and present the reader with a more complete picture of the future of Europe. Two more chapters provide some background on the work that went in to developing the scenarios including a chapter on the variables that were considered in the writing of each scenario and also a chapter on the methodology 'Shaping Actors-Shaping Factors' which was followed in the building of the scenarios. A glossary and a list of participants in the working groups is also provided for the reader.

This book will provide all those interested in the future of Europe with suggestions which they can use to decide on their own idea of what Europe will mean in 2010.

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