European Values and Their Role in Addressing Europe’s Challenges
Are ‘European values’ truly European or universal?
What role should universities play in shaping Europe’s future?
About
The 13th episode of the Transform4Europe (T4EU) Alliance’s ‘Reach Out’ podcast reflects on European values and their role in responding to the current situation in Europe and the challenges it faces.
This conversation with Vesselin Popovski, visiting professor at Transform4Europe at Sofia University and the University of Silesia in Katowice, interviewed by Desislava Karaasenova from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” analyses the role of the European Union (EU) in consolidating the values of the Enlightenment and the contribution of European university alliances to promoting EU values in the face of current challenges.
For the Deputy Director of Jindal Global Law School, concepts such as ‘the rule of law, democracy, freedom, happiness’ are not European values. ‘There are no European values, just as there are no Asian or American values. These are global values. They are universal values, but implemented in Europe,’ he stresses.
For this reason, the researcher considers the role of universities in promoting these values to be essential, as well as European university alliances to be ‘absolutely crucial’ in addressing the current challenges facing Europe. ‘Universities shape the minds of these young people, opening up opportunities and windows of possibility for their future careers, and there is no better place for the creation, development, and implementation of values than universities.’
‘Therefore, to face these challenges, we need collaboration, and this collaboration necessarily involves universities, because universities are where policies begin, based on data-driven research, evidence, and recommendations.’
This episode highlights not only the essential role of universities in defending universal values and the role of European university alliances: by integrating European values into academic activities and cooperation, alliances contribute to a stronger and more integrated Europe and reinforce the role of universities as drivers of democratic societies, where evidence-based knowledge, grounded in sound scientific principles, guides teaching, research, and public engagement.
