GLOBSEC

At #GLOBSEC2026 Forum, Karel Havlíček — First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic — delivered a blunt verdict on European competitiveness in conversation with Terry Martin: words are no longer enough. The next 18 months must deliver results. The Green Deal is being replaced by security. But security is no longer just defence spending. It is energy security. Industrial security. Raw materials security. Agricultural security. Five pillars, one agenda, and Europe is exposed on all of them. Energy in the United States is four to five times cheaper than in Europe, and production is migrating accordingly. China is no longer winning on cheap labour, it is winning on R&D, innovation, and science, beating Europe with the same instruments Europe once used itself. The Antwerp Declaration laid this out a year and a half before the Draghi Report. Nobody reacted. Three priorities cut through: 🔷 Energy self-sufficiency built on nuclear and renewables 🔷 A shift from subsidy-driven policy to a market-oriented model 🔷 Leadership from people who have actually built things His warning on federalisation is clear: you do not solve a crisis by enlarging the entity that creates it. Build Europe on its original foundations. Free movement of capital, goods, services, and people. And let the private sector be the engine. Without financial resources from a competitive industrial base, Europe cannot fund defence, science, or the climate transition. The math is unforgiving. #EuropeanCompetitiveness #EnergySecurity #Industry

In 2024, the United States produced 40 major AI foundation models. China produced 15. The European Union produced 3. And yet, the U.S. ranks only 21st globally in real-world AI adoption. Half of the top ten? European countries. That paradox framed Yesterday's #GLOBSEC2026 Forum panel on Europe's Tech Power Gap, where Gen. John R. Allen (Ret.) led a conversation with Henna Virkkunen (European Commission), Willemijn Aerdts (Minister for Digital Economy and Sovereignty, Netherlands), Johansson Micael (CEO, Saab), and Lisa Monaco (President of Global Affairs, Microsoft). The real race, it turns out, is not invention. It is diffusion. And history is clear: the economies that prosper from general-purpose technologies — the steam engine, electricity, the internet — are rarely the ones that invent them. They are the ones that adopt them widest and fastest. What the conversation surfaced: 🔷 Europe has more AI researchers per capita than the U.S. and five times more than China 🔷 Defence is leading adoption because the incentive is existential 🔷 Trust is the gating issue. #GeoTechSummit #AI #TechSovereignty Willemijn Aerdts | Staatssecretaris Digitale Economie en Soevereiniteit

Europe is the continent of the future. 🇪🇺 #GLOBSEC2026 Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament

Day 1 of GLOBSEC Young Leaders Forum 2026 set the tone: no comfortable consensus, no easy answers, just the kind of frank, high-stakes dialogue that defines this community. Key takeaways from the first day: 🔷 We already see the "elephant in the room" coming — whether in geopolitics, security, or institutional paralysis. The bigger risk is not uncertainty, but waiting too long to act. 🔷 Even amid energy deadlocks and global crises, long-term strategy and international cooperation still create space for progress and resilience. 🔷 Europe helped shape the global AI rulebook, but regulation alone will not secure leadership. Speed, investment, infrastructure, and execution will determine whether Europe leads the next phase of innovation — or reacts to it. #GLOBSEC2026 #YoungLeadersForum

What does it take for Europe to remain relevant in a world it no longer controls? At #GLOBSEC2026 Forum in Prague today, three themes cut through every conversation — and they all turned out to be the same conversation. European sovereignty. Defence and industrial readiness. Economic competitiveness. Three crises that used to be managed in separate rooms by separate ministries. Not anymore. Energy policy is defence policy. Technology policy is foreign policy. Capital markets are a security question. The post-Cold War assumptions are gone. What replaces them is being decided now — in factories, boardrooms, and parliaments, not just on battlefields. 2,000+ guests. 86 countries. One urgent question: does Europe move fast enough? #GLOBSECForum #EuropeanSecurity #EuropeanDefence #Geopolitics #Prague2026

#GLOBSEC2026 Forum is officially open in Prague. 🌍 GLOBSEC President Róbert Vass and President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel opened the 21st edition of the Forum with a clear message: the crisis facing the international order is no longer approaching, it is already here. Over the next three days, 2,000 participants, 270 speakers and 50 sessions will move the conversation from diagnosis to decisions.

What stories are hidden in the names of the GLOSEC stages? Read more to find out 🎤 Havel Stage 1️⃣ Named after Václav Havel, the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic, this stage honors his legacy as a playwright, dissident and the leading figure in the peaceful Velvet Revolution and the subsequent transformation of Czechoslovakia to democracy. Havel's commitment to democracy, human rights, and his vision of a free Europe continues to inspire leaders and activists worldwide. Albright Stage 2️⃣ This stage is dedicated to Madeleine Albright, the first woman in the post of U.S. Secretary of State, who was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Albright's distinguished career in diplomacy and her strong advocacy for democracy, human rights, and transatlantic cooperation have left an indelible mark on global politics. Schwarzenberg Stage 3️⃣ Named after Karel Schwarzenberg, a prominent Czech politician, diplomat, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, this stage recognizes his significant contributions to Czech foreign policy and his steadfast commitment to European integration and harmonious international relations. #GLOBSEC2026

We are pleased to announce Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, as a speaker at #GLOBSEC2026 Forum. Prague | 21-23 May 2026