The UK and the EU: what shared interests in a digitised and geopolitical world?
On Wednesday 11 June 2025, we are organising an in-person, public debate at Leiden University's Wijnhaven building in The Hague, with our incoming Visiting Fellow and Professor of Practice in Public Policy Alexander Evans and Sir Julian King, Partner at Flint Global and previously the UK's EU Commissioner from 2016-2019, responsible for EU policy on security, cyber, tech and data, with more speakers to be announced.
The EU and the UK are now in the post-Brexit era but also face a rapidly changing European and global security architecture in combination with a heavy strain on transatlantic relations. In addition to geopolitics and hard military security, there are big questions about cyber security and digitisation. How to defend the digital realm? How to deal with (over)reliance on American digital companies, platforms and infrastructure? And how to mitigate dependencies in the global digital supply chain? What is the direction the UK and the EU should take together in these volatile times? What are the possibilities for cooperation and where do strategic interests align and diverge?
Speakers include:
- Sir Julian King (Partner at Flint Global, previously the UK’s EU Commissioner 2016-19, responsible for EU policy on security, cyber, tech and data);
- Prof Alexander Evans (Professor in Practice in Public Policy at the London School of Economics, previously adviser to the UK Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street and Director Cyber in the Foreign Office; and Visiting Fellow with The Hague Program in early June);
- Wouter Jurgens (Director for Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands);
- Helena Farrand Carrapico (Professor of International Relations and European Politics, Northumbria University).
Moderated by prof.dr Dennis Broeders (Professor of Global Security and Technology, Leiden University and Senior Fellow of The Hague Program).
Registration mandatory - please register through this link.
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