Alexis Tsipras, the former prime minister of Greece and a key figure during Europe’s turbulent years of financial crisis, will return to the spotlight in Paris next week with a lecture at the Sorbonne University.
On Friday, October 3, he is scheduled to address students and academics in an event provocatively titled "Europe: A Continent Without Leadership?"
The gathering is being organized by the Sorbonne’s School of Political Science in cooperation with its postgraduate program in Communication, Power and European Public Affairs, and will take place in the Pierre-Henri Teitgen Amphitheatre. The choice of venue is fitting: Teitgen, a prominent jurist and politician in postwar France, was himself a central figure in the push for European unity. Against that historic backdrop, Tsipras will speak at a moment when questions over Europe’s capacity to lead on issues ranging from economic stability to migration, security, and climate change remain as urgent as ever.
For Tsipras, who led Greece from 2015 to 2019 and became internationally known for his defiant stance during fraught negotiations with European creditors, the theme is a familiar one. His years in power brought him face to face with the limitations of European decision-making and the weight of supranational institutions. Now, from the vantage point of academia, he is expected to reflect on Europe’s shifting political landscape and the leadership vacuum that critics argue hampers its global influence.
The event is designed not only as a lecture but as an open conversation. Following his remarks, Tsipras will field questions from Sorbonne students, offering a chance for the younger generation of Europeans to engage directly with a politician who has grappled with the continent’s contradictions from within government. He will also meet with both students and the president of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, underlining the university’s role as a hub for dialogue on Europe’s future.
