The questions and challenges facing the European Union are numerous, the answers and solutions are fewer. Never, since the Second World War, has Europe been that essential. Yet never has Europe been in so much danger. How to achieve a more united, more sovereign, more democratic Europe? Shall European union move forward only in responding to crises? How to act in order to defend EU’s interests and values in these unusual times? The climate crisis is a global problem. Security risks create instability. How to make EU stronger, more autonomous and more influential? Academic researchers from several countries combined their efforts in trying to find answers to these questions in this joint publication of the Martens Centre and the Hanns Seidel Foundation with the support of European Studies Department of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.