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LEAD STORY
Voices of a New Generation:
Eight young leaders head to Davos with huge hopes for Europe and big ideas about how to make a difference
Across the Great Divide
The Davos' élite must listen, say Thierry Malleret and Klaus Schwab
War And Peace
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Doubts At Davos
Misgivings about America are the talk of the town
Killer Worm
Can anyone stop the Slammer Worm ... and its imitators?
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Forecast 2003: TIME predicts global political, economic and social trends
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WEF 2002 With 9/11 fresh in the mind the World Economic Forum moves to New York
Davos 2001
Much of the talk was devoted to closing the techno gap
Davos 2000
TIME's Don Morrison tells of sensitivity training for the rich |
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DAVID ELLIS for TIME
GIVING IT A REST:
Aps, Mifsud Bonnici, Christensen and el Khatib leave the conference room and hit the dance floor
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| Voices of a New Generation |
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Eight young leaders head to Davos with huge hopes for Europe and big ideas about how to make a difference. Will anybody listen? By JEFF CHU
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They are young, full of energy and ideas, and almost as diverse as modern Europe itself. Note their names: Ruth Aniansson, Jaan Aps, Rasmus Grue Christensen, Hakan Ener, Alexander Hoefmans, Hanan el Khatib, Ken Mifsud Bonnici, Petre Stamatescu. You'll see them in the headlines someday. Passionate about Europe at a time when most people just don't seem to care, these ambitious twentysomethings aspire to lead the Continent as lawyers, academics, NGO workers, businesspeople — maybe even politicians. A week before December's E.U. Summit in Copenhagen, the eight held a summit of their own in the Danish capital. Their mission: to prepare for this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, where they'll bring their message — "We expect much more from the E.U. than it's now delivering" — to global leaders in government, finance and industry.
Who are these eight young leaders, and why should the Davos élite listen to them? They were elected by 1,000 of their peers at last summer's Youth 2002 conference in Denmark, where young people from 33 European countries drafted a mock E.U. constitution — a blueprint for the future of Europe. The meeting was organized by the World Economic Forum, the Danish think tank Monday Morning and a consortium of youth organizations as part of the Bridging Europe Initiative, a program designed to combat apathy and encourage a new generation of leaders. As the E.U. embarks on its largest-ever expansion, writes a real constitution and seeks a single voice in the global order, these eight are acting as messengers from a skeptical generation. The theme of this year's World Economic Forum is "Building Trust" — a tall order indeed — and if that theme is to have any meaning, then the construction project must include young people like these.
Idealistic and almost impossibly eager to make a difference in the world, they have high hopes for Europe but little faith in the way it's currently being run. They want more communication from Brussels and among citizens. They want the E.U. to become an activist in world affairs. They believe a sense of European identity can and should coexist alongside national ones. Their faith in the European project compels them, as Alexander Hoefmans, 27, a wiry Belgian lawyer, says, "to stand up and shout loud for the future of Europe."
Not all the young leaders cared so much about the E.U. before Youth 2002. For some, like Ken Mifsud Bonnici of Malta, 20, an intense, almost professorial law student, phrases like democratic deficit have always rolled off the tongue. But many more were like Petre Stamatescu, 24, a Romanian and onetime aspiring pro basketballer. Yes, he was (and is) keen on politics — he's now working at the European Parliament. But when he signed up for Youth 2002, he says, "I saw it more or less as a paid holiday."
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