A majority of Europeans look positively into their personal future, but negatively into the future of their own country. This optimism paradox runs through all social groups, age groups and countries. At the same time, the strong tendency of Europeans to have a pessimistic view of their own country's future has clear political implications - especially in terms of party preference. This is shown by our new eupinions study "The Optimism Gap". The Belgian versions of this study in Dutch and French were produced with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation.

What do Dieselgate and forums that self-organize the internet have in common? And what can we learn from both in terms of shaping digital transformation for the good of society? In the expert opinion paper published today by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Dr. Carolina Ferro and Dr. Ben Wagner present their research on four case studies and proposal for an improved framework of governance for digitalization at the European level.

Surprisingly, the corona pandemic has not hit the crisis- and conflict-ridden societies in the EU’s southern neighbourhood as hard as was originally feared. This may be due to the early and strict lockdown implemented by those societies, and to their relatively young populations, the high level of commitment evinced by their civil societies, and their experience dealing with crises.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we witness the increased use of rapid executive decisions by governments, based on scientific advice. What role does that leave for citizens participation? An important one. Because good policy solutions depend on scientific expertise and the lived reality of citizens.

The current situation stemming from the corona virus pandemic was not only the thematic focus of the "EU to go spezial", but also determined the setting of the event on April 23, 2020: For the first time in digital webinar format with over 200 participants, our experts presented European developments and measures and examined a possible instrument at EU level to mitigate the pandemic.

With the book "Europe's Coherence Gap in External Crisis and Conflict Management. Political Rhetoric and Institutional Practise in the EU and Its Member States", the Bertelsmann Stiftung, together with the Centre for European Policy Studies and other experts from the EU member states, is presenting a comprehensive inventory of European civil-military capabilities in crisis and conflict management.

In an online editorial, Christian Kastrop, director of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Europe's Future program, and Thomas Wieser, long-time chairman of the preparatory committee of the European Council of Economic and Finance Ministers and the Eurogroup, argue that the Corona crisis provides an example of how the European Union must change to survive in the 21st century.

On Thursday, April 9^th, the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America and the Global Economic Dynamics project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung hosted a webinar on the response to the CoVid19 crisis in the US and Germany.

The corona pandemic is affecting people in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood later than in other areas. Yet poorly equipped health-care systems and weak social programs mean the entire region will be severely impacted by the crisis. Some heads of government are already using the pandemic to expand their power.

While the ongoing pandemic affects all European economies, we show that it is likely to cause much more economic damage in some member states than in others. Early fiscal crisis responses by EU governments do not reflect these differences. If anything, countries which are likely to be especially vulnerable are currently committing fewer fiscal resources to fighting the economic fallout than others. A joint European policy response to share the fiscal burden of this crisis is, therefore, urgently needed.