Over the past 50 years the European Union's focus has been mostly inwards. Its leaders have expended their time and energy creating independent institutions, a single market and a common currency. But if the EU is to remain relevant over the next 50 years its imperative must be to start shifting its collective focus outwards.

The biggest long-term challenges of our age - globalisation, climate change, energy dependence, immigration, terrorism, stability in the Middle East and development in Africa - cannot be solved within the EU's borders, still less within individual nation states. The EU must contribute more to the global debate on all these issues and develop the capability to match its sonorous words with effective deeds.