Hertie School hosts fourth Henrik Enderlein Fellowship lecture

Continuing Henrik Enderlein’s legacy, the Hertie School and the Stiftung Mercator introduced the fourth Henrik Enderlein Fellow: policy researcher and former Latvian Minister of the Interior Marija Golubeva. The public lecture, titled “Open, but not Defenceless: Protecting Europe from hybrid threats”, was co-hosted by the Hertie School’s Centre for International Security, which will host Marija during her fellowship.

The event featured keynote remarks by incoming Fellow Golubeva and a panel discussion including Golubeva, outgoing Fellow John Morijn, and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag Anton Hofreiter. Julian Wucherpfennig, Director of the Centre for International Security, moderated the discussion.

John Morijn’s work “tackled some of the most pressing challenges facing our continent”

After welcome remarks from Hertie School President Cornelia Woll and Jacques Delors Centre Co-Director Johannes Lindner, Magdalena Kirchner, Director of the Centre for Europe in the World at Stiftung Mercator, marked the handover of the fellowship by emphasising its role in promoting a democratic, strong and resilient Europe. Kirchner thanked outgoing Fellow John Morijn, highlighting that his work on democracy and the rule of law in the EU had “tackled some of the most pressing challenges facing our continent”. Morijn’s fellowship was hosted by the Centre for Fundamental Rights.

Marija Golubeva stresses the urgency of countering hybrid threats

In her keynote remarks, Golubeva emphasised that Europe’s security challenge lies not only in military preparedness but also in defending against daily hybrid attacks aimed at destabilising and polarising societies. She identified three key areas of concern – cybersecurity, physical infrastructure, and cognitive warfare – and pointed out the deficiencies of current EU policies, which often operate in isolation and respond too slowly to rapidly evolving threats. “What illicit campaigns target is not information but behaviour,” she noted, highlighting the importance of disrupting hostile actors rather than merely countering disinformation.

Confronting hybrid threats while safeguarding democracy

The panel following Golubeva’s remarks examined how Europe can stay “open but not defenceless” against hybrid threats. Anton Hofreiter identified disinformation and propaganda as Germany’s “most dangerous threat” and warned that Russian influence efforts could even lead to “Russian agents in our parliament”. He emphasised that protecting democracy requires effective enforcement of the EU Digital Services Act and addressing the societal impacts of foreign interference, rather than viewing security solely through a military lens. He argued that European democracies must be “less naive” and clearly signal to Moscow and Beijing that their interference will come at escalating costs.

Similarly, John Morijn emphasised that defending Europe is not only about spending on conventional defence but also about protecting “constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law”. He argued that hybrid threats exploit weaknesses within EU institutions themselves and called for secondary EU legislation on safeguarding free and fair elections, stronger media freedom norms, and clearer separation of the European Commission’s political and legal roles. Golubeva highlighted the need to shift from bilateral and fragmented intelligence sharing towards European-level data sharing and operational action, especially to reduce the risk of populist capture of national security services.

Watch a recording of the event below.

Photo credits: Sanyam Bajaj/Hertie School

About the Henrik Enderlein Fellowship

The Henrik Enderlein Fellowship commemorates the Hertie School’s late president and founder of the Jacques Delors Centre Henrik Enderlein. It is awarded annually to outstanding personalities dedicated to a strong European Union and enables regular research stays at the Hertie School for scholars, policymakers and academics. The fellowship contributes to building networks that bring together stakeholders from science, policy and politics in tackling urgent issues on the European and national agenda. The Henrik Enderlein Fellowship is funded by Stiftung Mercator.