Bringing together outstanding scholars from different disciplines, the roundtable will address many contradictions present in Europe today and that shape its understanding of possible futures.  Europe is today a space within which the principle of social solidarity and the idea of the welfare state appear firmly rooted, yet also one in markets are challenging the survival of the nation state. European integration has been transformed from a project inspired by peaceful federation, to a project fuelling the sense that political alternatives have narrowed – and that technocrats have tended to supplant the role of democratic political actors.  European democracy is challenged by crisis, austerity politics and the return of authoritarianism. European identities are more manifold than ever, but also caught in at times violent collision. As cosmopolitanism stands against rising nationalism, and as European politics break down in a new North South dimension, what future can we imagine?