LUGANO – November 10, 2025 — A lively, direct and unfiltered exchange between Romano Prodi and Václav Klaus inaugurated the first edition of the Lugano Global Forum, offering a vivid snapshot of the geopolitical tensions running through Europe in a time of deep global uncertainty. The encounter, conceived — as Director Alan Friedman noted — “to let serious people talk seriously,” immediately captured the attention of the 150 international leaders in attendance.
The Forum brings together leading figures from government, finance, business, diplomacy, technology, academia, and media for two days of private, unchoreographed dialogue on the theme “The Certainty of Uncertainty: Navigating the New World Disorder.” This is not a traditional conference but a high-level conversation — no speeches, no panels, no stagecraft.
At the center of the opening session was the debate between Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission, and Václav Klaus, former President of the Czech Republic.
Speaking with unusual frankness, Prodi warned that Europe risks being squeezed between the aggressive pressure of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the unpredictability of Donald Trump’s America.
Prodi stated: “The European Union has been in a state of paralysis since the French referendum. We must strengthen the Union, give political substance to the Draghi Report; otherwise, even the very existence of Europe is in danger, caught between an ever-stronger China and the United States, which — even before the Trump presidency — had become increasingly less pro-European.”
Klaus responded with equal firmness, arguing that “the European Union has lost its ability to act, and that only a return to full national sovereignty can ensure stability and strategic vision.”
Klaus said: “I reject being labeled a Eurosceptic — I am a realist. We Czechoslovaks have been subjugated many times throughout history — first by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then by the Soviet Union. That is why we distrust the EU’s regulatory superpowers. The urgency is not to increase Brussels’ authority but to eliminate the EU’s overregulation so that Europe’s nations can compete globally.”
The exchange perfectly embodied the spirit of the Lugano Global Forum: a space where differences are not smoothed over but examined rigorously, at a time when Europe must redefine its role in a rapidly changing international landscape.
Director Alan Friedman emphasized the need for honest, strategic dialogue in an age of accelerated uncertainty, while Program Director Barbara Erskine reiterated that LGF’s intimate and selective format is designed to foster authentic debate and independent thinking.
The inaugural edition features a distinguished lineup, including Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator of the Financial Times; Bill Emmott, former Editor-in-Chief of The Economist; and Marion Jansen, OECD Director for Trade. The program also includes prominent journalists, diplomats, and scholars such as Antonio Di Bella, Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni, Bruno Giussani, Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, Laurent Frésard, and Giovanni Barone-Adesi, contributing to a rich, informal, and unfiltered exchange.
Supported by the City of Lugano, the University of Italian Switzerland (USI), and a select group of Swiss sponsors — LGT Bank Switzerland SA, Scavia Gioielli SA, Air Dynamic SA, The View (Paradiso), and Cibodivino — the Lugano Global Forum aims to become a leading Alpine hub for strategic international reflection.
