Pontresina – ESI discusses the future of democracy and migration at the NZZ Academy

23 October 2025
Berlin in Winter, Photo: flickr/Ondre
Pontresina. Photo: flickr/Justin Meckmann

ESI’s Gerald Knaus delivered a presentation at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung’s NZZ Academy, held in Pontresina, Switzerland. The NZZ Academy provides a forum for executives to critically examine the most pressing issues of our time, and Gerald was invited to contribute on the topic of migration and other social challenges of the West.

In his presentation, titled “Migration, refugees and the future of democracy”, Gerald noted how the failure to respond to the public demand for stronger control over migration has strengthened identitarian narratives and anti-democratic forces across Europe. He thus made a moral and a political case for increased migration controls, arguing that a solution could reduce migrant deaths by up to ninety percent, as happened after the migration deal between the EU and Turkey in 2016. Gerald outlined one such proposal, calling for a deal between EU states and the UK which would render sea crossings of the English Channel futile and instead offer migrants a credible legal pathway to resettlement in the UK.

Placing migration in the wider context of war and peace in Europe, Gerald argued that integration remains the most powerful strategy to secure peace, democracy and stability in Europe. Noting the EU’s remarkable success in making war unthinkable between its members, he called for a credible offer of deeper economic integration and early access to the single market for EU candidate countries.