At the "Let’s Talk about Europe" Lectures in Vienna, Allianz.com News spoke to the Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer about today's and tomorrow's Europe.

Solidarity and cohesiveness face major challenges in today’s Europe. At the latest "Let’s Talk about Europe" event sponsored in Vienna by the Allianz Cultural foundation, a high-powered panel discussed integration, the welfare state and the role of religion.

"A Europe of Religions – Dialog instead of exclusion" was the topic discussed at the Vienna "Let's talk about Europe" series by politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Protestant bishop Michael Bünker, ethnologist Halleh Ghorashi and Islamic studies expert Tariq Ramadan.

In the first Allianz Lecture in Vienna, Joschka Fischer, George Soros, Karel Schwarzenberg and Anne-Marie Slaughter discussed Europe's role in a world of disorder.

The third "Let's talk about Europe" series begins on January 20, 2008 at Vienna's Burgtheater, where the participants will discuss Europe's role in our chaotic world.

A new book, "Let's talk about Europe", has been published as a part of the Munich Allianz Lectures 2007. Michael M. Thoss of the Allianz Cultural Foundation, who is also co-publisher of the book and lectures organizer, talks about the lectures and future plans.

"Where does Europe end?" was the question posed at the last Allianz Lecture in this series, which brought some inspiring answers. The successful series is planned to continue in Vienna during the next theater season.

At the fifth of this year’s Allianz Lectures, the Jewish philosophy professor Almut Sh. Bruckstein, the Turkish sociologist Nilüfer Göle and the British-Pakistani writer and filmmaker Tariq Ali talked about re-defining Europe as a home to both Christians and non-Christians.

In the fourth of this Allianz Lectures series, French historian Pierre Nora, German political sciences specialist Gesine Schwan and Polish historian Robert Traba endeavored to reach a multi-perspective understanding of European history.

Europe must take the lead in order to prevent a global climate catastrophe. That was the tenor of the Allianz Lecture on "Europe's roadmap to global economic leadership", featuring EU commissioner Günter Verheugen, economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and climate expert Hans Joachim Schellnhuber.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is a leading scientist on climate change and adviser to the German chancellor Angela Merkel. He will be speaking at the Allianz Lectures on "Europe's roadmap to global economic leadership." Allianz.com News asked him why climate protection is so important.

"Not wanting to" or simply "not wanted"? The second Allianz Lecture tackled the issues of migration and integration, with hot debate on whether it is enough for immigrants simply to want to be integrated, or whether the state should assume greater responsibility for integration.

At the inaugural lecture of Allianz Cultural Foundation's second "Let's talk about Europe" series, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Greece's Foreign Minister Dora Bakojannis and former EU Commissioner Mario Monti presented their visions for Europe.

EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen will be speaking at the Allianz Lectures in January 2007. Allianz.com News interviewed him about Europe's chances of becoming the world's top economy, how the European Union can help this happen, and remaining challenges.

The topic of the latest Allianz Lecture in Munich, the fifth in the series and the last for the time being, was "The Infiltrated Continent." Speakers Leoluca Orlando and Otto Schily were of the same mind about the dangers posed by organized crime and terrorism, but disagreed on the subject of Europe's immigration policy.

The subject of the fourth Allianz Lecture held in Munich on May 21 was "Cosmopolitan Europe" and the integration of minorities. Social scientist Ulrich Beck, Member of the European Parliament Daniel Cohn-Bendit and publicist Navid Kermani discussed how to deal with cultural diversity in Europe.

The subject of the third Allianz Lecture, held in Munich on May 14, was European identities and the role played by culture. Architect Rem Koolhaas and philosopher Peter Sloterdijk discussed narratives, depressive tendencies and influences from both west and east.

At the second "Allianz Lecture" held in Munich last Sunday, Henning Schulte-Noelle, Peter Sutherland and Joachim Wuermeling discussed about "Europe facing global competition." They concluded that in terms of economics, the EU has achieved a great deal, but there is still a lot more to be done.

At the Allianz Lectures in Munich, well-known experts will present their visions of Europe's future. After five spring matinées, beginning on April 30, the lecture series is expected to continue in fall. Allianz.com News interviewed Allianz Cultural Foundation's managing director, Michael M. Thoss.