WorldDenver Welcomes Young Leaders From Europe

Floyd Ciruli led a discussion with fifteen young leaders from Europe sponsored by the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program. WorldDenver hosted the event and approximately 40 of its members joined the discussion.

After two weeks of visits with U.S. officials and issue experts, the leaders’ questions still focused on President Trump, his foreign policy moves, and the future of the Democratic and Republican parties. The general assumption was that America will be in a hiatus of international leadership for the near future. The group offered the following observations:

• Merkel was in a very strong position for re-election
• Merkel and Macron are likely to take lead on host of EU issues
• Macron was a phenomenon, much like Trump, in his sudden rise and dominance of the French system
• May now has a fragile majority, but is in charge of the start-up of Brexit negotiations
• Greens are a larger political group in many countries than far right
• The Ukraine is still a major challenge for Europe and U.S. leaders
• The EU has had a respite from overt attack, but faces major challenges and turmoil. Nationalist and populist sentiments remain strong.