As a businessman and head of one of Europe’s largest business federations, I have worked in EU affairs for the past 21 years. I have seen vast changes in the European landscape, all within the lifetime of my own son. In recent years, he has asked questions, raised criticisms and he has developed strong views on how he sees the future for Europe. In this article, I take up his challenge to review the Europe our children will inherit.

The creation of the Europe we now know has taken immense dedication and courage for over 60 years from many people. Our youth take for granted what the EU has achieved. They have grown up with a unified Europe and its founding principles - so hard fought for - and they scarcely perceive their revolutionary nature. So perhaps they need to be reminded of some facts, so obvious they are easily forgotten.

We have peace in a unified Europe: this is a wonderful thing, unimaginable not so long ago. My son lives in Potsdam in a house which, 30 years ago, was behind a wall, in a different physical and political world, occupied by three families struggling for food and warmth. At that time, to travel from Germany to Brussels took three trains, passage through three border controls and three different currencies. Now, we have the euro, which has eased life for citizens who travel and removed currency risks for numerous businesses and SMEs. Thanks to the euro, cross-border business is straightforward, markets are growing and Europe’s financial centres have profited.

We have the internal market: the free movement of goods and services had to be fought for; the protectionist instincts of many politicians and business leaders had to be overcome. Now, it is an unquestionable good (like the Services Directive).

But if the rocket stops climbing, it crashes: the Europe we have built is facing great challenges and we cannot be complacent if her success story is to continue for the next generation.

Lack of leadership in Europe is a major threat - who is the Jacques Delors of today? This is not purely the fault of ‘Brussels’, but rather of member states, which cling to outdated nationalistic views. Their fears are understandable but their backward-looking solutions are misguided and too often stem from a ‘quid pro quo’ attitude (eg the silence on public deficits or the damage to the credibility of the stability pact). These ideas have led some national politicians to advocate an ‘a la carte’, two-speed Europe full of opt-outs, but this would bring a very unstable foundation for the future.

The Lisbon strategy promised much - but delivered little. Now we have a new strategy, ‘Europe 2020’ - but can we trust it to deliver more? We need the strong political will to create a real single market accepted in all countries, free from nationalism. And we need to deliver on the detail - fewer, simpler administrative rules to boost SME growth; easier legal requirements for business; a cheap, fast European Community patent.

The economic world order is changing fast. In 1990, four European countries were in the top ten world economies; by 2020, only two will remain. Since 1990, the European GDP has increased by about 50%, yet China’s has risen by 550%. The BRIC countries already own nearly 95% of all strategic commodities. China has strategic assets in five continents; she will soon dictate the exchange rates of both the euro and the dollar and decide which countries are rescued and under what conditions.

The very survival of the euro is threatened. We have to muster all our political courage and clean up our financial backyard if Europe is to compete on a newly configured world stage. And the time in which to act is rapidly becoming a resource scarcer than oil, air or water.

On sustainability, we must remember that “we do not pass this Earth on to our children” - we borrow it from them. When my son was born, the Earth produced enough per annum to supply that year’s consumption: now, we use up a full year’s production by the middle of August. What will remain for our children? How will they have water to drink when underground reserves are polluted by nitrate? How can we justify the use of land to produce biofuels, when people are starving for want of food?

Yes, there are reasons for our children to worry and Europe must wake up and face these facts - fast. I call on our European leaders to move from words to action - and to do so quickly. Our children also deserve a world which delivers prosperity, health and happiness and which is sustainable economically, socially and politically.

(*) Xavier R. Durieu is retiring CEO of Eurocommerce