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hosted by Professor Michael Leigh


Giles Merritt views Europe's shrinking population as a ticking time bomb that will impact every facet of life and Europe's global role. In this seminar, he will share insights from his new book and propose strategies.

Merritt has specialised in European public policy since 1978. In 2010, the Financial Times named Merritt one of 30 influential "Eurostars", together with the European Commission's President and NATO's Secretary General. From 1968 to 1983, he was a Financial Times staff correspondent, successively in Paris, Dublin/Belfast and Brussels. From 1984 to 2010 Merritt contributed fortnightly Op-Ed opinion columns to the International Herald Tribune on European economic and political issues.

In 1999, he founded 'Friends of Europe', one of Brussels' more prominent independent think tanks and debating platforms. Once this was firmly established, he launched and edited Europe's World, a quarterly policy journal that attracted contributions from a wide range of opinion-formers and decision-makers.

His newly published book Timebomb: When Ageing Explodes(Policy Press) warns of the dire economic, social and political consequences of Europe's demographic decline, and proposes policy responses to soften ageing's impact. He has submitted recommendations to the UK House of Lords' current inquiry into demographic change. Timebomb is his fifth analysis of major challenges confronting Europe. In 1982 he published World Out of Work (Collins), an award–winning study of unemployment in industrialized countries. In 1991, his book The Challenge of Freedom (Kogan, Page) assessed the difficulties facing post–communist Eastern Europe. In 2016, Slippery Slope: Europe's Troubled Future (Oxford University Press) was shortlisted for the European Book Prize. In 2021 People Power: Why We Need More Migrants (Bloomsbury) examined the complex of issues surrounding immigration.

Since stepping down in 2016 from the leadership of 'Friends of Europe', Merritt has been writing its fortnightly 'Frankly Speaking' commentaries, and continues to be among the influential voices in the EU policy debate.