Damme – ESI meets with high-school students across Germany to discuss Europe’s future

4 March 2026
Gerald meeting with students in Munich. Photo: Samuel-Heinicke-Fachoberschule
Gerald meeting with students in Munich. Photo: Samuel-Heinicke-Fachoberschule

ESI’s Gerald Knaus travelled across Germany to talk with students about their role in creating tomorrow’s Europe. To this effect, he visited three schools in Heidelberg, one school in Munich, and a school in Damme, Lower Saxony.

Gerald noted that Europe is facing its greatest threat in generations. The most pressing of threat to progress and democracy comes from resurgent nationalism. Here, both external and internal anti-European actors are conspiring to bring violence and chaos to the heart of Europe. Putin has openly tried to provoke mass-migration from Ukraine to Europe to strengthen the anti-European far-right. This strategy has paid dividends, with far-right parties such as the AfD in Germany or the RN in France surging in the polls – aided by slick, modern social media campaigns which have brought them considerable success among Germany’s youth.

Facing this threat, democratic Germany needs to do a better job of telling the European story. Modern Europe is a success – with the world’s highest standards of living, technological innovation across borders, and firmly-anchored rule-of-law. To do this, we need to make use of all resources at our disposal, including technology and social media. Given their technical savvy and fresh ideas, Europe’s youth will be particularly important to this effort.