This year’s CEEI coincides with three anniversaries, which are crucially linked to our conference topic: 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 15 years since the creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and 10 years since the – so far – biggest round of EU enlargement.
This is not only a reason for celebration but also an occasion for honest stocktaking and thoughtful reflection. I think that the developments that followed these events have been broadly successful. For an overwhelming majority of Europeans, the last quarter of a century brought hugely improved living standards and a much higher level of freedom.