Being able to better anticipate future challenges and developments is a major asset for policymakers. Yet, the specific impact of global trends on Europe is difficult to precisely delineate. Strategic analysis can help policymakers to better assess the uncertainties surrounding these trends and build up institutional resilience. In an attempt to better coordinate strategic decision-making in response to the global trends of the future, and their impact on the European Union (EU), the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS) was established in 2010. ESPAS is an inter-institutional initiative, bringing together the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS).
On behalf of the ESPAS Task Force, RAND Europe was commissioned to study global societal trends to 2030, and to consider the long-term policy challenges the EU should prioritise for the next institutional cycle (2014-2019) and beyond. The research team focused on five main themes including:
The study specifically reviews the evidence base underpinning trends in these themes.
The research process to undertake this assessment was divided into two main phases:
This phase aimed to uncover the range of trends likely to have consequences for the EU’s landscape. It involved an extensive review of available literature and documentation, complemented by an analysis of available data. This review extracted key trends, information on drivers, the conditions under which the trend would materialise, the level of uncertainty around this trend, and ‘alternative narratives’ or disagreement in the literature.
This phase aimed to estimate the likelihood of specific trends materialising between the present and 2030 and their potential impact on the EU. To assess the likelihood and potential impact of the trends studied, major trends within each theme were discussed within an online Delphi questionnaire involving 200 experts from around the world, using the ExpertLens tool developed by RAND. Building on the Delphi findings 30 semi-structured interviews with experts from the academic, policy, charity and private sector were conducted to unpick the impact for the EU and its policy consequences.
The trends identified in this study could profoundly shape the EU landscape in this coming institutional cycle (2014-2019) and beyond, by 2030. The significance of these trends could require the EU to persist its efforts to continuously adapt its policies and approaches so as to better tailor these to strategic realities. The challenge of adaptation is even more crucial as it could require from EU policymakers greater efforts in terms of flexibility to unforeseen trajectories the more trends are surrounded by higher levels of uncertainty.
However, levels of complexity and uncertainty of these trends reduces the ability of policy-makers to anticipate changes to realities and could require EU policymakers to face more disruptive moments. As a result, in addition to adaptive policymaking, greater resilience could help the EU better face these disruptive moments, no matter how or why they materialize in the future.
The analysis has uncovered and documented a selection of thirty-three key trends within five themes. The research team assessed the evidence and the degree of uncertainty of each of these trends and mapped them accordingly. This assessment could inform debates over both what could constitute more adaptive policy approaches and what could increase the overall resilience of the EU as an institution.
Our research has shown that among all the trends we have discussed, some appear far less uncertain than others. The future challenges that they set are therefore relatively straightforward to understand and can be directly accounted for in the next EU strategy.
Results from the analysis point to a series of eleven salient future policy challenges which were classified under three headings: investing in citizens; creating a growth-friendly ecosystem, and reinventing government (see table below).
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1 Investing in Citizens |
Equipping EU citizens with the tools to seize opportunities as they come along and protecting the most vulnerable citizens against misfortune |
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2 Preparing For a New Growth Paradigm |
Enabling citizens and businesses to reap economic opportunities and compete globally |
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3 Reinventing Government |
Recalibrating the public sector machinery and services to accommodate the realities of the 21st century |
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* Science, technology, engineering and mathematics
In May 2014, elections will be held throughout Europe for the 751 Members of the European Parliament. Later in 2014, a new European Commission will succeed the current Barroso Commission (2010-2014). Both these events are likely to trigger profound changes in European policymaking in the coming years. As the close of the decade approaches, attempts to devise a follow up on the Europe 2020 strategy should focus on building Europe’s resilience by combatting inequality and focusing on the three areas highlighted above.
This report analyses key societal challenges for the EU until 2030 by exploring the evidence base and uncertainties underpinning global trends -- in areas such as migration, employment, inequality or empowerment -- and their impact on the EU.
Stijn Hoorens, Principal Investigator
Jeremy Ghez |
Sam Drabble |
Kate Robertson |
