The Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative held a private, off-the-record, strategy lunch discussion hosted by H.E. Johan Verbeke, Belgian Ambassador to the United States and H.E. Jan Jambon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Security and Homeland Affairs of Belgium on March 31, 2016, to discuss a way forward after the attacks in Brussels.

The Islamic State has brought its fight to Europe. We are likely to see continued efforts to terrorize Europeans at home, adding even more challenges to an already strained European Union. This lunch was both an opportunity for the Atlantic Council family to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Belgium, and to discuss what a strategy could be to galvanize Europe and the United States to cooperate better to ensure the safety of our citizens and the resilience of our societies. These attacks, combined with the confluence of crises buffeting Europe, underscore the importance of the Council’s broader Future Europe effort to determine how the United States can best support Europe in this time of historic challenges.