Future is Blue

In this episode of Future is Blue, Carlos Carnicero Urabayen speaks with Arancha González Laya, former Spanish Foreign Minister and Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, following a Funcas event in Madrid. They explore how broader reform packages could help governments reach agreement, why pooling sovereignty can strengthen countries’ ability to protect their interests, and how “talking micro”—explaining the benefits of European integration in everyday terms—could help win citizens’ support. González Laya also explains why she sees the world as fragmenting rather than deglobalising, and makes the case for combining stronger trade partnerships with a deeper European Single Market.

In this episode of Future is Blue, Carlos Carnicero speaks with economist Luis Garicano, Executive Director of the newly launched Rhine Group, and Raymond Torres, Director of Funcas Europe, about why Europe is struggling to turn a widely shared diagnosis of its competitiveness problems into meaningful reform. They discuss the political and institutional barriers to action, whether smaller groups of countries may need to move ahead when agreement among all 27 is impossible, and why completing the Single Market remains critical for investment and for helping European companies scale. The conversation also explores how Europe can mobilise more of its abundant private savings, the need for visible “quick wins”, and the growing urgency of closing the gap in artificial intelligence. At the end of the episode, Garicano also highlights his new book, Messy Jobs: The Work That AI Cannot Reach, co-authored with Jin Li and Yanhui Wu, which examines how AI is reshaping jobs, organisations and the labour market.

Europe enters the autumn with an economy that has proved more resilient than expected, but still struggles with weak productivity, investment and technological dynamism. In this episode of Future is Blue, Carlos Carnicero Urabayen speaks with Raymond Torres, Funcas Europe Director, about what is supporting growth, why labour markets remain strong despite a sluggish economy, whether Europe’s competitiveness problem is now more about execution than diagnosis, why Spain continues to outperform many of its peers, and the key risks to watch in the months ahead — from energy prices and inflation to financial-market uncertainty.

Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the UK and the EU are cautiously rebuilding their relationship—but how far can this “reset” really go? In this episode of Future is Blue, Carlos Carnicero speaks with Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe, about how the political and economic context around Brexit has evolved, what has actually been achieved so far in improving ties, and whether the fundamental trade-offs between sovereignty and market access can ever be resolved. The conversation explores the limits of the current approach, the EU’s strategic calculus in dealing with the UK, shifting public opinion, and the long-term scenarios for the relationship—from pragmatic cooperation to the possibility of rejoining.

Industrial policy is back at the centre of Europe’s economic debate. But can the EU turn subsidies, trade agreements and competitiveness strategies into real industrial strength? In this episode of Future is Blue, host Carlos Carnicero Urabayen speaks with Fernando Martín Espejo, head of analytics at Global Trade Alert, and Miguel Ángel González Simón, economist at Funcas, about Europe’s struggle to move from reaction to strategy. They discuss why money alone does not build capability, how market fragmentation weakens Europe’s investment case, why trade openness still matters in an age of economic security, and what Europe should look at by 2030 to know whether it has truly become more competitive.