Nine leading Brussels think tanks, in cooperation with Agence Europe, met at the Forum 'From Lisbon Treaty to Global Recession: out of the frying pan into the fire' to debate the European Union's politico-strategic agenda for the coming year. This is the first time the Brussels think tanks have collaborated to discuss the future of the EU, demonstrating their common goal of contributing to European policy-making and debate, with a general assessment and with concrete policy proposals.

At the Opening Plenary of the Forum, on 12 January, policy analysts looked at the institutional implications of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU and the economic crisis and the EU's external performance in an increasingly multilateral world.

The session was followed by four workshops, where participants debated the following issues:
- how to develop the EU climate policy model following the Copenhagen debacle;
- how to deal with Europe's economic challenges;
- Stockholm Plus, transforming political goals in coherent policies on migration social cohesion and human rights;
- developing new global governance in a new global order and the EU's position.

The nine think tanks are: the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Madariaga-College of Europe Foundation and the Egmont Institute (EFC members), Bruegel, the Centre For European Studies (CEPS), the European Policy Centre (EPC), Friends of Europe-Les amis de l'Europe, the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri), and the StiftungWissenschaft und Politik (SWP).