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European Business Summit 2025

17, 18, 19 & 20 November

Egmont Palace, Brussels

CHOOSE EUROPE - FOR A RESILIENT AND COMPETITIVE FUTURE

To mark its 25th anniversary, the 2025 European Business Summit will open the floor to a bold and necessary debate: what choices must Europe make today to remain resilient, innovative, and globally competitive tomorrow? In a world defined by rapid change and rising geopolitical tensions, “Choose Europe” is more than a slogan: it’s a call to action.

Can Europe truly deliver on its investment ambitions? Will strategic autonomy move beyond ambition? Can innovation be scaled without industrial strength, and regulation simplified without losing trust? This milestone edition will challenge assumptions and confront realities as we ask: can Europe rise to the moment, and choose a future that is truly its own?

Invited speakers

Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Philippe Aghion
Professor of Economics, 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, ERC grantee
Marta Kos
Commissioner for Enlargement
Teresa Ribera Rodríguez
Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition
Ann Mettler
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Philippe Lamberts
Advisor to the European Commission President
Jessika Roswall
Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and Circular Economy, European Commission
Hadja Lahbib
Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management
Roxana Minzatu
Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness, European Commission
Andrius Kubilius
Commissioner for Defence and Space, European Commission
Michael McGrath
Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, European Commission
Dan Jørgensen
Commissioner for Energy and Housing, European Commission
Apostolos Tzitzikostas
Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, European Commission
Cecilie Myrseth
Minister of Trade and Industry of Norway
Alexandru Munteanu
Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova
Eugen Osmochescu
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, Moldova
Bertrand L’Huillier
Head of Cabinet Executive Vice-President Séjourné, European Commission
Ditte Juul Jørgensen
Director General DG ENER, European Commission
Renate Nikolay
Deputy Director General DG CNECT, European Commission
Marc Lemaître
Director-General, DG RTD, European Commission
Elisabeth Werner
Director General DG AGRI, European Commission
Patrick Anthony Child
Deputy Director General DG ENV, European Commission
Outi Slotboom
Director DG GROW, European Commission
Lucilla Sioli
Director DG CNECT, European Commission
Kristian Schmidt
Director DG MOVE, European Commission
Herald Reuijters
Deputy Director General, DG DEFIS, European Commission
Mechthild Wörsdörfer
Deputy Director General DG ENER, European Commission
Veronica Manfredi
Director DG ENV, European Commission
Jan Dusik
Deputy Director General DG CLIMA, European Commission
Maria Luisa Cabral
Director for Working Conditions and Social Dialogue, DG EMPL, European Commission
Maria Leptin
European Research Council, President
Dr. Marcus Pleyer
State Secretary of Germany, Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space
Taras Kachka
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine
Alessandro Azzoni
Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Italy to NATO
Christophe Vivier
Head of Single European Sky Unit, EDA
Camille Grand
Secretary General, ASD
Samantha Cristoforetti
Italian European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut
Emma Brown
Director Public Affairs and Communications, CropLife Europe
Mariangela Marseglia
Vice President European Stores Amazon
Hendrik Bourgeois
Senior Vice President Public Policy & Government Affairs, MasterCard
Nanna-Louise Linde
Vice President European Government Affairs, Microsoft
Debbie Weinstein
President of Google EMEA
Sylwia Giepmans-Stepien
Head of Cluster, EU AI and Economic Policy, Google
James Waterworth
Director, EU Public Policy, Amazon
Nicholas Mazzei
Vice President Sustainability Europe, DP World
Dominique Mamcarz
Sustainability Director, Geopost
Thais Gervasio
Senior VP, ECOLAB
Frank Niederlaender
VP Government Affairs Europe, BMW
Sander van Donk
Vice President Europe, Lubrizol
Philippe Ducom
President of ExxonMobil Europe
Lone Fønss Schrøder
Chair at Ikano Bank, Volvo Cars NomCom, Geely Sweden Holdings and board member at AKER
Gabrielle Gauthey
Senior Vice President European Affairs, Total Energies
Giuseppe Dello Stritto
Head of Unit Land and Logistics and lead on Military Mobility, EDA
Nadim Ahmad
Deputy Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), OECD
Andra Migiu
Head of Security and Defence Office, EIB
Édouard Pérard
Head of Water Department for Environment and Energy, EIB
Victoria Abramova
General Manager, Mars Wrigley France
Matt Browne
Head of Government Affairs, Europe, Apple
Lorenzo Giussani
Director of Strategy and Growth, A2A Group
Virginia Janssens
Managing Director, Plastics Europe
Rigo Van Den Broeck
Executive VP for Cybersecurity Global, Mastercard
Ingrid De Ryck
Chief Sustainability Officer, AB InBev
Lucie Boost
Secretary General, Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE)
Edith Hofer
Deputy Head of Unit, DG ENER, European Commission
Jean-François van Boxmeer
Chair, ERT
Jens Lindell
Global Head of People & Culture Transformations at Ingka Group, IKEA
Craig Suckling
Chief AI Officer for Europe, Capgemini
Jan Mischke
Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
Pascal Lamy
Vice-President of the Paris Peace Forum and Jacques Delors Friends of Europe Foundation
Olga Trofimtseva
Sector Lead Agriculture and Food Security, Ukraine Facility Platform
Adrian Vázquez Làzara
Member of the European Parliament
Brando Benifei
Member of the European Parliament
Janusz Lewandowski
Member of the European Parliament
Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz
Member of the European Parliament
Virginijus Sinkevičius
Member of the European Parliament
Wouter Beke
Member of the European Parliament
Sergey Lagodinsky
Member of the European Parliament
Thomas Bajada
Member of the European Parliament
Angelika Niebler
Member of the European Parliament
Cynthia Ni Mhurchu
Member of the European Parliament
Ludek Niedermayer
Member of the European Parliament
Nicolas Gonzalez Casares
Member of the European Parliament
Aura Salla
Member of the European Parliament
Eva Maydell
Member of the European Parliament
Radan Kanev
Member of the European Parliament
Jonás Fernández
Member of the European Parliament
Paulo do Nascimento Cabral
Member of the European Parliament
Hildegard Bentele
Member of the European Parliament
Niels Flemming
Member of the European Parliament
Tobias Kolb
Senior Consultant, SPIKE Reply
Marco Graia
Partner, SPIKE Reply
Lars Grebe
Senior Manager, SPIKE Reply
Amal Taleb
Acting Head of Brussels Office & Europe, SAP
Matthias Bauer
Director ECIPE
Samuele Tonello
Senior Food Policy Officer, BEUC
Luisa Delgado
Chair at SWAROVSKI and serves on the Boards of EFG, INGKA/IKEA, DIA Group, Telia and Fortum
Serena Borbotti-Frison
Director-General, Allied For Startups
Lorenzo Ignacio Cuartero
Real Admiral Spanish Army, EUMS
MARKUS OTTO
Senior Vice President Aviation Europe, DHL Express
Vasco Pereira Da Silva
Head of Policy, Allied For Startups
Christoff Wolff
Chief Executive Officer, Smart Freight Center
Julia Hoover
Head of Global Reproductive Medicine Franchise, Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Florence Bauer
Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, UNFPA
Nicoló Giacomuzzi-Moore
Executive Director CBE Joint Undertaking
Manuel Marina Breysse
Cardiologist, Co-founder & CEO at IDOVEN
Elin Hurvenes
Chair & Partner, Chair Mentors International
Anca Damour
CEO & Partner DCraig Real Estate & Chair at ELI Parks
Ania Helseth
Head of AI, Copyright & Media Policy, META
Matthieu Auzanneau
Director The Shift Project
Corinna Grajetzky
Director of European Affairs ENGIE
Zoe Sinclair
Co-Founder, This Can Happen Global
Norbert Kail
VP Renewable Carbon, BASF
Neerja Birla
Founder and Chair of Aditya Birla Education Academy and Chair of MpowerMinds
Anita Fincham
Head of Policy, Fertility Europe
Mette Laursen
CEO and founder, LinKSLabs and Chairs' Agenda, co-created with Nations
Francoise Roels
Chair at bpost and Inclusio, founding member of Women on Board
Berit Svendsen
Chair at Defendable, winner of Chair of the Year, Norway, and former CEO Telenor
Stephanie Kalil
Commercial VP Plastics and Specialty Plastics EMEA Dow and Member of the Plastics Europe Steering Board
Violeta Atanassova
Co-Founder of Nullure
Abelard Vilardell
Co-Founder of Nullure
Paolo Pietrobon
Owner Fraccaro
Martin Thelle
Partner, Implement Consulting Group
Emilie Caspar
Associate Professor, Ghent University
Nick Halliwell
International Sales Director, ATK
Oksana Zolotaryova
Member of Executive Board, UAFP
Marco Moragon
Head of EU AI Policy, Workday
Tinatin Akhvlediani
PhD, Research Fellow, EU Foreign Policy Unit, CEPS
Leen Vanhamme
Senior Vice President, Strategy and Sustainability, Fluxys
Laurens van Delft
Deputy Secretary General, EWPA; Director Trade & Economics, EDA
Jack Parrock
EU Reporter
Jennifer Baker
EU Reporter
Shada Islam
EU Reporter
Rosie Birchard
Deutsche Welle
Ewa Krukowska
Brussels Deputy Bureau Chief for Bloomberg News
Maria Tadeo
Euronews
Mariam Zaidi
News Anchor, TRT World
Catherine Geslain-Laneelle
Director Strategy and Political Analysis, European Commission
Matt Ersin
Senior Director of Governmental Affairs, Fastned
Andy Bounds
Financial Times
Gian Volpicelli
Technology Reporter, Bloomberg News
Dave Keating
France 24
Teri Schultz
EU/ NATO Reporter
Chris Burns
EU Reporter
Silke Wettach
EU Reporter

Check the 2025 Agenda

Our mission statement

Our mission is twofold: we aim to bring politics and business together in order to provide them with an opportunity to debate and pursue their common goals, giving a voice to all sides of the debate. The other priority of EBS is to provide European institutions with a platform where they can place their top priorities in the spotlight and advance the development of new pieces of legislation through discussion with a variety of actors and stakeholders.

Arnaud Thysen
Director General

They trust us

Among other: