Date: March 9th, 2026, 3 pm – 6 pm
Venue: Théâtre Royal des Galeries, Galerie du Roi n° 32, 1000 Brussels

Invitation to be presented at entrance

Program

• Introduction by HSH Duke Leopold of Arenberg
• The new great power competition: what are the consequences for Europe?
  Speaker: Dr. Rob Johnson (UK), Director Strategy, Stratecraft and Technology Centre, Senior Research Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Oxford
• What needs to be done?
  • Military strategic response: deterrence, collective defence and nuclear strategy
    Speaker: LTG (US) Ben Hodges (Ret.), former Commanding General US Army Europe
  • Economic strategic response: revival of the European defence-industrial base
    Speaker: Dr. Baudouin Heuninckx, Acting Director for Industry, Synergies & Enablers of the European Defence Agency
  • Societal strategic response: increasing our resilience
    Speaker: Elisabeth Braw (SWE), senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
• What next for the NATO-EU relationship: how to defend Europe with less America?
  Speaker: Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, Acting Director-General of the Egmont Institute (Brussels), Professor at Ghent University
• How to raise public awareness about defence and to improve community spirit?
  Speaker: Jamie Shea (UK), Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Questions and answers from the speakers by General Sir (UK) Adrian Bradshaw (Ret.), former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, OBE and Colonel Roger Housen (Ret.), Defence expert
• Reception