What Eurovision Reveals About Europe’s Resolve
8 May 2025
In the months since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Europe has been forced to reevaluate its place in the world. From trade threats to security instability, the pressure is mounting, but the response is taking shape in unexpected ways.
In his latest piece for the European Sentiment Compass, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)’s Senior Policy Fellow, Pawel Zerka, captures how cultural and civic resilience is emerging as a quiet counterforce. From Eurovision to foreign policy, Europeans are showing renewed determination to defend openness, democracy, and shared responsibility.
At the European Cultural Foundation, this resonates deeply. Through the European Sentiment Compass—a joint initiative with ECFR—we track not just what Europeans think, but how sentiment shapes the future of Europe. We see that trust in Europe must be earned not through abstract ideals, but through everyday culture, public space, and democratic inclusion, drawn from our ongoing, multi-year research partnership tracking European sentiment.
That’s why our strategy invests in libraries as civic infrastructure, supports alternatives to Big Tech, and funds cultural cooperation across borders. The compass shows us where people are disillusioned—and where they’re building something better from the ground up.
Read the full article Eurovisionary times: How the continent is learning to sing in Trump’s face by Pawel Zerka.
In the photo: Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil represents Ukraine performs during the dress rehearsal of the Grand final of the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) at Malmo Arena, in Malmo, Sweden, May 2024
