14 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 We live in times where, despite high and still growing prosperity and surprisingly low unemployment in most countries, there are many concerns and questions, even despair, in the non-material sphere, especially among young people. The question is why? Some answers are obvious. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, crises have followed in rapid succession. For Europeans, this was followed by the crisis in the eurozone between 2010 and the end of 2012, accompanied by an economic recession; the European refugee crisis in 2015-2016; climate disasters caused by water and fire; terrorist attacks in numerous European cities in 2015 and 2016; the pandemic that lasted almost three years; the war in Ukraine since 22 February 2022; and the resulting high inflation (up to 12%), and more recently, the trade war launched by the US in April of this year. All these developments created uncertainty and fear, which translated politically into an increase in extremism, the fragmentation of the party-political landscape and, as a result, the instability of national governments. The unrest and dissatisfaction of citizens drove some voters to political extremism, but at the same time many people demanded stability. Paradoxically, emotions have therefore become more important, but mostly negative emotions. However, life goes on relentlessly. Our economic competitors in the world and the climate do not care about our emotions. The challenge, then, is to turn fear into hope. We must also take into account nonmaterial reasons to explain the uncertainty felt by so many people. Society is changing rapidly. The world we live in today bears no resemblance to the 1950s, when I grew up, with strong social ties, strong philosophical and religious convictions, strong organisations and respected institutions and authority figures. I speak without nostalgia, because that serves no purpose. Today, individualization has turned into personal isolation. It has slowly grown out of the economic competition model, urbanization, social media, and political democracy. We are seeing the effects of this excessive individualization in the rise of diseases linked to the way in which we live our lives. Mental health is being affected by high rates of depression Following is the extraordinary verbatim keynote speech delivered by Count Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Belgium, at the EL Congress in Bern, Switzerland on 15 September 2025. TURNING FEAR AND ANXIETY INTO HOPE AND POSITIVE ACTION Continued on page 16
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