00:00How, for example, can we talk any more of a post-war Europe
00:06when we're witnessing in Ukraine a full-scale war
00:10that's lasted longer than the First World War
00:13and cost perhaps as many as 2 million dead and wounded?
00:19I will continue to contribute what I can with pen and voice,
00:24such voice as is left to me,
00:26but the future of both Europe and freedom
00:29will increasingly depend on your generation of Europeans.
00:34Many things will be needed to defend, reform, and extend a free Europe,
00:39but let me highlight just three.
00:43First, what I hope you're already finding at university,
00:46a profound commitment to the search for truth
00:50based on critically scrutinized evidence and verified facts.
00:55In his book, The Historian's Craft,
01:00the great historian Mark Bloch identifies several periods of European history
01:05in which, I quote,
01:07it was as if a vast symphony of deception
01:12resounded from one end of Europe to the other.
01:18Now, we're probably entering another such period
01:22with another vast symphony of deception
01:26being played by social media, AI, hostile powers,
01:33and some people in very high places.
01:39The role of truth-seeking professions,
01:45such as my own academia and journalism,
01:48but also the law, as represented, for example,
01:53by the International Criminal Court in The Hague,
01:56will be more important than ever.
02:00Second, trust.
02:03Liberal democracy is now experiencing
02:06a profound crisis of trust
02:08almost everywhere in Europe,
02:11and not least among younger Europeans.
02:14That trust has to be regained.
02:17This will depend not just on good policies,
02:21but also on respected, steadily adapting institutions
02:25and the contributions of individual human beings
02:29in all parts of society.
02:33Finally, to keep the sequence of Ts
02:37and use a Spanish word,
02:41tiki-taka.
02:43Is it possible to speak in Spain
02:47in the year 2026
02:49and in the presence of Lionel Messi
02:51without mentioning football?
02:55Well, clearly, it's impossible,
02:59because I just have.
03:01The lesson from football for Europe
03:05is that success requires both individual genius
03:13and sophisticated teamwork.
03:16Each individual player
03:18has their own special talent,
03:20attacking, defending, or in midfield,
03:22yet all work as one
03:24if they can achieve
03:25the amazing, rapid-passing Spanish game
03:30in which everyone seems almost miraculously
03:33to know not just where everyone else is,
03:35but where they'll be in about five seconds' time.
03:40Ladies and gentlemen,
03:42if only the nations, states, and regions of Europe
03:47could do the same,
03:50combining, as Europe at its best always has,
03:54diversity and unity,
03:57we would be unbeatable.
03:59The end of today is unbeatable.
04:00What do you mean?
04:10The end of today is unbeatable.
