With the European elections just weeks away from the conference, “21st-2018’s edition, built around the theme of “Solidarity in Europe”, saw 825 participants register for 10th May and 696 attend 11th May. 60% of those who attended were male, 39% female and 1% preferred not to say. The conference was comprised of 14 sessions which dealt with the theme of European solidarity across a range of topics including European economic, monetary and fiscal policies, social investment, strategies of EU defence and security, migration, climate change and energy programmes. The event hosted 74 speakers, including Sergio Mattarella, Michael D. Higgins, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Corina Crețu, Antonio Tajani, Jean-Claude Juncker, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, Federica Mogherini, Mario Draghi, Paolo Gentiloni, Simona Bonafè, Maria João Rodrigues and Monica Scatasta and women accounted for 32% of speakers. This year saw the development of the Fringe Events programme which was established as part of the EUI’s commitment to diversify conference participants and create new synergies between the Institute and the local political environment. 700 participants attended 10 side events organised by partners and EUI departments which included pertinent topics such as “What Future for Cohesion Policy after 2020?”, “A Citizens’ Dialogue’ Measures to Contrast Poverty – Comparative European Experiences” and “Equity and Solidarity in the EU Emissions Trading System: Any Lessons for International Climate Governance?” The State of the Union also entered into a partnership with YouGov which polled European citizens in 11 countries to discover what Europeans thought about solidarity in Europe. The results were analysed and summarised in a policy brief which was published and distributed at the conference.