In this interview, Professor Ian Manners of the University of Lund revisits the concept he helped define - Normative Power Europe - to examine what it really means to think of the EU as a living, evolving political project rather than a fixed set of institutions. He explores which values the EU genuinely embodies on the world stage, beyond its own rhetoric, and how far these values hold up under scrutiny.

As debates over democratic backsliding, colonial legacies, and the return of coercive power politics reshape the global order, Manners addresses a pressing question for European policymakers: can a values-based power like the EU remain credible, and relevant, in a world where force increasingly speaks louder than norms?

The conversation touches on why viewing the EU as evolving rather than fixed changes our understanding of its politics, whether backsliding in Poland and Hungary has undermined its credibility as a guardian of its own values, what it means to "decolonise" the EU's values and norms, and how a values-based power should respond when other states rely on coercion. A leading scholar in EU studies and international relations, Manners offers a timely, critical reflection on Europe's identity, integrity, and place in a shifting global order.