So, what to do? Patrizia Nanz, the president of the European University Institute (EUI), has some ideas.
Based in Florence, the EUI is the EU's top research institute and home to the EU's archives. Nanz, who has led the institute since 2024, previously researched democratic participation and advised governments and the European Commission.
First, she argues that European leaders lack vision. “If political leaders were bolder and thought about Europe's long-term future, it would pay off, also in terms of popularity,” Nanz told me.
Exactly: Eurobarometer polls show that 90% of Europeans want more unity among member states and a stronger EU voice internationally. “There is a fatigue of listening to management of crisis mode among Europeans,” Nanz said.
“A pragmatic federalism, like the coalition of the willing, is the way to go,” Nanz said. She believes that countries ready to move forward should do so, particularly in three areas: digital autonomy, the energy transition, and the capital markets union.
About the latter, she said: “We need to leverage around €800 billion annually that we need to boost investment.” That, however, is not easy in a bloc like the EU, with 27 different economies. “The money is there, but we can't leverage it because it's stuck in national bank accounts,” Nanz explained.
Fundamentally, though, European leaders need to explain that these goals are not abstract but will at some point benefit people's lives. “Any politics that doesn't speak the language of purpose and care directly to people will lose out. While the far right speaks to people's anxieties, we need a vision that speaks to their aspirations,” she said.
To do that, Nanz advocates for giving citizens a greater role in decision-making. “The crisis of democracy is because people feel they can't influence the decisions made on their lives,” she explained. “You need to make the gap smaller between politicians and citizens by doing legislative processes from the bottom up.”
What would that look like in practice? Nanz points to the success of citizens' assemblies in member states, where randomly selected citizens deliberate on difficult political questions.
“There is a good track record for deeply embedded citizens' assemblies which improve legislative proposals. Furthermore, because they are randomly selected, the members are legitimised by citizens outside the assembly,” she said.
They worked in contentious societies like Ireland, where 100-person assemblies over several months helped break through questions that had long paralysed national politics.
The assemblies' work paved the way for referendums that legalised same-sex marriage in 2015 and overturned the country's near-total abortion ban in 2018 – changes few thought possible in a traditionally Catholic state just years before.
The record isn't unbroken: two assembly-linked referendums on family and care were defeated in 2024. Still, the model can move the debate forward on issues politicians struggle to touch.
While democratic reform can improve decision-making, it won't solve how social media has fundamentally altered the public sphere. “People don't talk to each other in the public sphere. You cannot act together without a common reality,” Nanz said.
This challenge is exacerbated by Europe's dependence on American tech. Most of Europe's digital infrastructure runs on US-owned companies, including all major social media platforms.
Nanz argues that Europe should prioritise becoming digitally autonomous. “Digital autonomy is the coal and steel of today,” she added.
But Nanz warns of what happens if Europe doesn't achieve digital autonomy. “There is so much loneliness around. We need to prioritise real-life encounter again.”