Programme
Find out more about the content of the conference on this page. It provides an overview of the sessions, panels and key themes that will define the conversation.
Find out more about the content of the conference on this page. It provides an overview of the sessions, panels and key themes that will define the conversation.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten will open the conference. As the youngest Prime Minister in Dutch history, he embodies a new generation of political leadership in Europe.
Europe’s security environment is changing rapidly, shaped by the threat of further Russian aggression, shifting transatlantic dynamics, uncertain security guarantees and technological disruption. This session explores how resilience — from protecting critical infrastructure to countering hybrid threats and strengthening societal preparedness — can reinforce deterrence and support greater European responsibility for defence.
Director, Netherlands Atlantic Association
Secretary General, NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Secretary General, European Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association (ASD)
PhD researcher, Ghent Institute for International and European Studies
US Ambassador to the Netherlands
What happens the day after a peace agreement is reached? Ukraine’s peace will be Europe’s test. This session explores how Europe can move from emergency support to strategic commitment. What kinds of security guarantees are credible? And what responsibilities will fall to European allies in shaping a durable peace that holds in Ukraine and beyond.
Journalist and historian; author of Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine
Former United States Ambassador to NATO
Head of the Security Unit, Clingendael Institute
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Co-Founder, DroneAid Collective
Assistant Professor, Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University
Netherlands Chief of Defence
Officer, Royal Netherlands Air Force
As global institutions come under growing pressure, multilateralism is being reshaped by strategic competition, shifting alliances and a more multipolar world.
Brussels Bureau Chief, Financial Times
African Studies Centre Leiden
Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi
EU Special Representative for Human Rights
Nate Swanson (Director of the Iran Strategy Project at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative) and Jack Watling (Senior Research Fellow for Applied Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute) will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, focusing in particular on Iran, regional escalation dynamics, choke points and the strategic choices facing the United States and Europe. The conversation combines Swanson’s recent first-hand experience — including his role as Director for Iran at the National Security Council on the Trump administration’s Iran negotiating team in 2025 — with Watling’s broader expertise on war, strategy and statecraft, offering a timely exchange on what recent events mean for regional stability and the wider international order.
General Director, Clingendael Institute
Resident Senior Fellow and Director of the Iran Strategy Project, Atlantic Council
Senior Research Fellow for Applied Military Sciences, Royal United Services Institute
Security and defence ultimately rest on economic strength. How can Europe strengthen its economic security, industrial capacity and technological edge in a world shaped by growing competition with the United States and China? Bringing together perspectives from business, finance and policy, the panel asks how Europe can move beyond regulation to become a stronger driver of innovation, resilience and long-term strategic power.
Columnist and contributing editor, The Times and The Sunday Times
Research Leader, Director Economic Security and Resilience Initiative, RAND Europe
Vice President, European Investment Bank
Executive Vice President Global Public Affairs, ASML
Chief Economist, Centre for European Reform
Historian Beatrice de Graaf and researcher Niels Drost examine how, across more than 500 speeches, Vladimir Putin has gradually opened a front against the West and its values. Drawing on historical parallels and scholarly analysis, De Graaf and Drost show how history itself can be wielded as a weapon of war.
Research Fellow at the Security Unit and the Russia & Eastern Europe Centre (CREEC), Clingendael Institute
Distinguished Professor of History of International Relations, Utrecht University
In the academic field of War Studies, universities and armed forces have long worked closely together combining scholarly expertise in strategy, conflict and security with operational and institutional knowledge from military institutions. Russia’s war against Ukraine accelerated demand for technological advantage, rapid innovation and industrial scale. Governments are turning to universities for cutting-edge research, talent and ideas. At the same time, academic institutions are wrestling with questions about independence, ethics, dual-use technologies and their role in society. How can scholars, industry and policymakers work together without compromising academic freedom? How can this be safeguarded in funding models and knowledge security?
Research Leader, Director Economic Security and Resilience Initiative, RAND Europe
Minister for Arms Procurement and Personnel
Assistant professor, Insitute for Public Administration, Leiden University
Professor of International Peace and Security in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London
President of the Executive Board of Vrije Universiteit (VU)
In a rapidly changing security landscape marked by geopolitical shocks, emerging technologies and shifting alliances, national parliaments are being forced to rethink their role. This session examines what legislatures can practically do to shape security and defence policy: from oversight and budgeting to public legitimacy and long-term strategic direction, in an era of persistent uncertainty.
Foreign Correspondent, BBC
High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, France
Correspondent and columnist, NRC and Foreign Policy
Party Leader PRO
Security challenges are evolving faster than traditional procurement cycles and institutional cultures can keep up. Maintaining technological advantage requires far closer cooperation between governments, established defence companies, and a new generation of startups and innovators. Bringing together industry, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers, we examine how to build trust, share risk, and deliver the speed today’s security environment demands.
Tech Diplomat, Netherlands Consulate in San Francisco
Senior Fellow, ISDP's Stockholm Center for Research and Innovation Security
Partner, Forward.one
CEO, Netherlands Aerospace Center
What does it take for a new generation of diplomats to succeed in a geopolitical landscape where power politics increasingly overshadow established rules and frameworks? How can they adapt, becoming more creative, agile, and effective, in engaging with diverse governments across shifting global dynamics?
President, YATA International
First Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Chile
British Ambassador to the Netherlands
Secretary General, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Middle East is at a turning point. Military escalation, shifting alliances and the utilisation of strategic leverage points are setting the region on an unpredictable course with consequences felt far beyond its borders.
This panel brings together experts on Iranian foreign policy, Turkish strategy, US policy, and the realities on the ground in Israel and the Palestinian territories. What is driving escalation, who is shaping it, and what does it mean for the people living at the centre of it? And what role can diplomacy, whether from middle powers or influential external actors, play in creating space for de-escalation?
Freelance journalist and former Middle East correspondent
Senior Fellow, Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)
Visiting Fellow, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)
Correspondent for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, NOS
Resident Senior Fellow and Director of the Iran Strategy Project, Atlantic Council
Amid geopolitical instability and accelerating global disruptions, the future has become a central arena of competition, risk and strategic choice. This session examines how actors, institutions and states can move beyond reactive thinking to anticipate shocks, harness innovation and actively shape what lies ahead in an increasingly uncertain world.
Strategic Foresight and Intelligence Programma, Clingendael Institute
Senior Researcher, NATO Defence College
Geopolitical Strategist and Foresight Expert, FACE (For A Conscious Experience)
Press freedom is increasingly shaped by political polarization. Developments within allied democracies influence not only domestic accountability, but also trust, legitimacy and the credibility of collective action. This session explores how restrictions on media freedom and attacks on independent journalism affect resilience, deterrence and decision - making across the transatlantic community. What are the security consequences when shared democratic standards come under strain?
Executive Opinion Editor, Financial Times
Europe Political Correspondent, BNR
Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ)
Columnist and contributing editor, The Times and The Sunday Times
As geopolitical tensions reshape priorities, public attention to climate change appears to be waning. This shift could risk slowing or weakening Europe’s climate agenda. Yet the transition to clean energy can reduce Europe’s economic dependencies, drive innovation, and boost resilience in times of geopolitical change and energy supply shocks. What are the key geopolitical advantages of the energy transition to Europe? What are its limitations? Does the energy transition create new dependencies? And would it help to treat the energy transition as a security imperative to sustain political momentum?
Journalist and former UN Youth Representative
Ambassador at large, Special Envoy for Climate and Environment Diplomacy, European External Action Service
Chair, Energy Security and Critical Minerals programmes, HCSS
Director, Low-Carbon Energy Research at Energy Intelligence
When de Gaulle pursued French strategic independence in the 1960s, he argued that without a nuclear deterrent, France could never be truly independent. Today, arguably the same logic applies to digital technology. AI, data infrastructure, cloud services, identity, and payment systems are indispensable for European economic stability and its security, and dependence on foreign platforms forms a strategic risk. This panel examines what Europe should and can do to close the gap and build the ability to act independently in the digital realm.
Tech Diplomat, Netherlands Consulate in San Francisco
Minister for the Digital Economy and Sovereignty
Head of Policy & Public Affairs, NLdigital
Member of the Global Futures Council on GovTech and Digital Public Infrastructure, World Economic Forum
In the serious game “Middle Power and Powerlessness” participants interactively learn the lessons of the Clingendael Geostrategic Perspective 2026-2040. Rapid change in the global order appears to give middle scope for geopolitical assertiveness. But new opportunities come with new challenges, and the future of world politics remains unknown. The goal of the game is to experience how different middle powers may operate in different geopolitical futures. Players assume the profile of a middle power and explore strategies and instruments of power in different scenarios of global order.
Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Institute
What does "the West" actually mean in the eyes of its adversaries? Frédéric Martel spoke with more than two thousand ideologues around Xi, Putin, Trump, Orbán and Hamas — and mapped out their case against us.
Professor European Politics, KU Leuven
Author
The War, Donald Trump and Us Omschrijving: In the documentary The War, Donald Trump and Us, director Guy Lagache follows Emmanuel Macron's actions over several months, surrounded by key members of his team. In this discussion of the film, Lagache uses key moments to illustrate what it is like to follow a head of state at such close quarters.
Geopolitical Analist Europe, Haagsch Instituut GeopolitiekNU
Journalist and documentarymaker
Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus
Former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, author of the landmark report on strengthening Europe’s civilian and military preparedness, and Dutch Minister for Arms and Procurement Derk Boswijk, discuss what true strategic readiness requires. From defence and civil preparedness to critical infrastructure and societal resilience, how can Europe better prepare for future crises?
Program Coordinator, John Adams Institute
Minister for Arms Procurement and Personnel
Former President of Finland and Special Adviser to the President of the European Commission