Europe today stands at a threshold where its survival and purpose converge. What advice might a small country like Greece offer the EU in times of geopolitical turmoil? Yesterday, at London Business School, George Papandreou—former Greek PM and General Rapporteur on Democracy at the Council of Europe—offered some compelling insights.

“There really is no small country anymore,” George suggested. Even “small states” matter decisively in an interdependent world where systemic trust is fragile and crises spill across borders. During Greece's sovereign debt crisis, all major powers were deeply involved to prevent global fallout. Small countries can also punch above their weight by forging regional alliances, providing genuine humanitarian aid, and living out “big” ethical narratives that compel others to act better. George drew on classical Greek imagery—Plato’s dialogues, the Olympic truce, the agora as space of integrated economics and politics, 'philotimo' as a life of honour. His government’s core question was: What is our role? What can Greece offer the world?

So what could the EU offer the world today? Its founding mission, George argued, was to humanise national capitalism through social democracy—to prevent populism, oligarchy, authoritarianism, or war. Could Europe today help shape a multilevel global system that humanises global capitalism—proposing a new charter grounded in rights, not might? Authoritarians will undoubtedly resist it—because it offers a genuine alternative. But one thing is clear: if the global system collapses, Europe will too.

To play that role, the EU also needs renewal from within. George insists we need a European demos and deeper deliberative democracy—citizen assemblies, devolution—to give people a real voice in major decisions. And we must confront the oligarchy of capital—buying up everything from votes to media and football clubs.

But here the philosophical gap appears. George extensively invokes Plato’s disgust for sophists and tyrants—but skirts Plato's answer. The Republic points not to more democracy, but to cosmopolis. Let Trump be Thrasymachus—but the real question is Glaucon’s: why be just if injustice pays better? Contractarian democracy can never provide a substantive moral telos. And without a shared idea of the good—a koinonia aimed at eudaimonia—Europe cannot cohere. Its crisis is meta-ethical: it no longer knows what it stands for. The issue isn't just better procedure—it’s deeper character.

That’s also why business schools like LBS must change. Ethics electives and sustainability pledges aren't enough. We must ground management in practical wisdom—or we’ll keep producing insecure overachievers, not planetary stewards.

Europe must reclaim a telos—of virtue, justice, and the common good. Only then can it lead by example, not force. Only then will it become a Europe FOR the world, worthy of being followed.

#Europe #Leadership #Democracy #Justice #CommonGood