The idea of Europe as a community emerged many centuries ago, but its meaning keeps changing—to Europeans and non-Europeans alike. Juliet Johnson has pioneered research on the changing role of European symbols such as the 12-starred flag, designed in the 1950s and formally adopted by European institutions in the 1980s. Intriguingly, shifts in meaning have often first occurred on Europe's eastern side, before being adopted by Europe's western "core."

What does it mean to be European today, in a fast-changing geopolitical environment and amid debates on which new member countries the European Union may incorporate? Can longstanding and newer EU members share similar visions of Europeanness? How do changing identities affect EU policies and market outcomes?

The European Central Bank (ECB) is working on a digital version of the euro, a project started back in 2020 that is coming closer to fruition as the enabling EU legislation progresses. The ECB has designed a digital equivalent of cash, aimed at complementing physical euros for day-to-day payments. Its approach may be compared and contrasted with the US Federal Reserve's reluctance to introduce a digital dollar and with the People's Bank of China's definition of the digital yuan largely as a bank deposit.

Has the ECB's rationale for the digital euro evolved over time, from a response to tech challengers, such as Facebook's Libra project in 2019, towards a more geoeconomic motivation of reducing critical dependency on non-EU payment service providers? What are the main features of the digital euro as currently considered? When will it be concretely introduced, and what are the risks and opportunities in Europe and globally?