Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Panel
The European Opportunity | Global Conference 2026
Milken InstituteGillian Tett, Martin Blessing, Hendrik Brandis, Thomas Buberl, Pascal Cagni, Anne-Christine Champion, Michele Giddens
- Germany plans to triple defense funding within a couple of years to establish the continent's strongest non-nuclear army, supported by a 500 billion additional investment facility intended to reverse 25 years of underinvestment and drive innovation in dual-use goods.
- Corporate tax rates in Germany are set to decrease from a 28 percent baseline, while social reforms regarding pension and health insurance systems aim to address sustainability issues inherent in the current pay-as-you-go model.
- A new special investment account for children aged 6 to 18 will provide 1,500 euros each, offering tax-free returns if funds are held until retirement, a measure designed to expand equity market participation among a new generation.
- France anticipates 3 to 4 percent growth in industrial throughput and projects the construction of one nuclear power plant annually in the coming years, necessitating urgent grid and energy capacity improvements amidst a backdrop of China building 10 plants per year.
- European policy makers are expected to address a fragmentation barrier equivalent to 45 percent internal tariffs on goods and over 100 percent on services, with a focus on implementing Capital Markets Union decisions to facilitate securitization.
- Europe currently holds a 3 percent annual account surplus representing 500 billion in savings flows, of which 300 billion annually is directed to the US due to shallow capital markets, though regulatory changes could redirect portions of the 600 billion German private savings pool toward growth investments.
- The venture capital ecosystem aims to build center-comp scale firms by addressing a lack of ambition in funding larger outcomes, while a general expectation exists that public perception will shift positively as government initiatives similar to Germany's Agenda 2010 become visible.
- A potential generational conflict is predicted to force the rebalancing of social contracts, as demographic trends make current expenditure models unsustainable and younger generations question intergenerational transfers of wealth.
- Economic productivity is expected to improve significantly by allocating 2 to 3 percent of industrial throughput in major economies like France, Germany, and Italy, alongside a pivot toward applying AI to industrial data, sensors, and robotics rather than large language models.
- Strategic independence efforts include a French initiative to create a sovereign satellite constellation with full supply chain component ownership, driven by geopolitical incentives to reduce reliance on American technology as the US market becomes less accessible.
- Green energy and sustainable infrastructure are anticipated to see rising growth in solar power and battery storage, supported by policy shifts toward outcome-based commissioning where governments pay less and later for improvements in housing and health.
- Societe Generale expects robust investor appetite for long-term, non-recourse cash flows from large infrastructure projects, while the broader European savings pool and talent base are viewed as sufficient to drive productivity gains if the willingness to act is realized.