Eurofound’s Annual Lecture 2025: Living and working in Europe - Rethinking progress for a sustainable and equitable future

Topics

Living and working in Europe

When?

Thursday, 19 June 2025

Time

12:30 – 14:30 Irish local time

Where?

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 6 Kildare Street, D02 E434, Dublin, IE

Event type

In-person

Organised by

Eurofound with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs

Event background

Eurofound held its third Annual Lecture ‘Living and working in Europe 2025’ on 19 June in Dublin with guest speaker Enrico Giovannini, professor of Economic statistics and of Sustainable development at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’. This invitation-only, lunchtime event was hosted by Thomas Byrne TD, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and at the Department of Defence, and Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director of Eurofound, to celebrate Eurofound’s 50th anniversary – five decades of supporting better policies for a strong social Europe.

Eurofound’s annual lecture series offers fresh perspectives on the future of Europe - particularly in light of current geopolitical challenges, the drive for economic resilience, and the need to rethink progress beyond GDP in policymaking.

This year’s lecture examined how well-being is measured, with a view to assess how the EU is performing across various well-being dimensions and how the economic transition can be reconciled with economic growth and social prosperity. Against the background of today’s constantly evolving geopolitical climate, it reflected on the EU’s drive for greater competitiveness and how this aligns with the values of the European social model.

A Flickr album and a video (see below) are available. Professor Giovannini's presentation can be downloaded just below.

PDF document

Presentation - Wellbeing and EU policies for sustainable development and social transformation

Speaker background: Enrico Giovannini is professor of Economic statistics and of Sustainable development at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' and professor and the National School of Administration (SNA). He was Italian Minister of Sustainable Infrastructures and Mobility in the Draghi government (2021–2022) and Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the Letta government (2013–2014). He is also co-founder and Scientific Director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), a coalition of more than 300 organisations established to implement the UN 2030 Agenda in Italy. He was Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD (2001-2009), President of the Italian Statistical Institute (2009-2013) and visiting fellow at the European Political Strategy Centre of the European Commission (2014-2015). In October 2014, the President of the Italian Republic made him ‘Cavaliere di Gran Croce al Merito della Repubblica’, the highest honour of the Italian Republic. He is the author of more than 130 articles published on national and international journals and author of eight books on statistical and economic topics.