Embedding the Future in the European Union: Advancing Towards Strategic Foresight

This article seeks to shed light on how the EU and its institutions are dealing with the future, an increasingly relevant dimension of policy-making. Interest in the future as a temporal and political dimension derives from increasing general international attention to anticipatory governance, this being a proactive approach to policy-making with the aim of anticipating disruptions and critical events. The possible integration of future-oriented thinking into decision-making processes along with the normalisation of anticipatory governance in order to contain the effects of unexpected events can be an asset for many polities struggling with creeping, perma-poly-crises. The article also connects crises with the EU’s commitment to so-called “strategic foresight”, a structured and systematic approach of exploring plausible version of the future which can support better policy-making and incentivise forms of anticipatory governance. What has emerged so far is a multi-level yet fragmented form of European governance attempting to deal with the future. It is not yet clear how Member States are adjusting to the EU’s commitment to the future and to the impact the organisation can have on their headway, considering that the aforementioned strategic foresight may be an obstacle for politicians seeking an easy and immediate consensus.