An evening with Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law at HEC Paris and founder of The Good Lobby
For seventy years, Europeans were largely spared the existential struggles that shaped previous generations. In the process, argues Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law at HEC Paris and founder of The Good Lobby, they became what Francis Fukuyama called the “last man”: comfortable, secure, and increasingly detached from the forces shaping their future.
But history has returned. Russia’s war against Ukraine, growing geopolitical rivalry, and mounting economic pressure have forced Europeans to confront uncomfortable questions about dependence, sovereignty, and political agency. The assumptions that underpinned decades of peace and prosperity can no longer be taken for granted.
In this conversation with Shona Murray, Europe Correspondent at Euronews, Alemanno explores whether this moment marks the end of the Last Europeans and the beginning of a more political Europe. What happens when a continent that believed history had ended discovers that history is back? And are Europeans ready to act together to shape their future rather than simply react to events beyond their control?
speaker
Alberto Alemanno is the Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law at HEC Paris and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe. One of Europe's leading voices on the democratisation of the EU, his scholarship centres on how law and policy can shift power, countering social, economic, and political inequalities within European societies and beyond. Alemanno has authored dozens of scientific articles and books, including Nudge and the Law: A European Perspective and the widely translated Lobbying for Change: Find Your Voice to Create a Better Society, a theoretical and practical guide empowering ordinary citizens to engage with policymaking at every level. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Risk Regulation, published by Cambridge University Press. Beyond academia, he has built durable civic infrastructure, including legal clinics, policy and advocacy labs, and pro bono services, to match his research convictions. As founder of The Good Lobby, he works to equalise access to political power for civil society. He has translated scholarship directly into policy, advising on the EU Tobacco Products Directive introducing of plain packaging across EU member states, drafting the EU Whistleblower Directive, designing the first independent EU Ethics Body, and proposing a dedicated EU Commissioner for Future Generations. His advocacy spans dozens of transnational campaigns, from the European Citizens' Initiatives One Single Tariff, Stop Glyphosate, Voters without Borders to Save Your Right, Save Your Flight, to strategic litigation, including the pending MEDEL case and End the Cage Age v Commission, aimed at improving access to EU Courts. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, his Ukraine Corporate Index - credited by the Financial Times and Forbes - applied sustained pressure on multinationals to reassess their presence in the Russian market.
Alberto is Italian, teaches in Paris, and lives in the Basque Country with his wife and three daughters.
moderator
Shona Murray is Europe Correspondent for Euronews, based in Brussels. She reports on foreign and defence policy, including NATO, Ukraine, the Middle East, and the European institutions. In recent months, she has reported from Ukraine, the Norwegian Arctic, Greenland, Finland, and Israel/Palestine.
Prior to joining Euronews, Shona was Brexit Correspondent for the Irish Independent and Foreign Affairs Correspondent for Newstalk radio.
She has also freelanced for several media outlets, including TIME, Radio France Internationale, and The Sunday Business Post. She has reported from more than forty countries, including Iraq, Israel, Palestine, South Sudan, the United States, France, and Guantánamo Bay.
Shona holds a B.A. in Journalism, an M.Phil. in International Peace Studies, and an LL.M. in International Law, both from Trinity College Dublin. She is also an alumna of the Edward R. Murrow Program of the United States Department of State.
