Europe is living in an 'era of darkness', Finland's President Stubb warns students in Bruges

Europe is living through an 'era of darkness' as multiple wars and competition between the United States and China trample the rules-based global order, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said.

Speaking at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, on Monday, Stubb said the post-Cold War age has ended and the world now faces a pivotal moment, like those at the end of the Second World War in 1945 and the fall of communism in 1989.

Stubb, who himself attended the institution in the 1990s, told the students he began his studies during an 'era of light' while they begin theirs in an 'era of darkness'. He said it used to be possible to say that the three biggest killers of mankind — disease, famine and wars — had been defeated, but that is no longer true and the light has given way to darkness.

While he tends towards optimism, there are now 'unfortunately, plenty of reasons to be pessimistic', he told the audience.

Stubb said the future diplomats, politicians and officials would graduate into a 'dog-eat-dog world' in which, by some estimates, 65 conflicts or wars are playing out — more than at any time since the Second World War.

Global security, he said, will depend on what the big powers — the United States and China — end up doing, and whether they choose cooperation or confrontation. Stubb, who has studied and written extensively on geopolitical upheaval, has been intimately involved in European efforts to navigate US President Donald Trump's second term, particularly on a peace deal for Ukraine.

'The key question for all of us is to create a European security structure which makes sure that Russia does not attack its neighbours again,' he said, adding that NATO will remain a vital alliance but new processes should also be developed, including confidence-building measures between Russia and Europe to build trust.

Despite the challenges, Stubb urged the students not to be pessimistic but to be ambitious for a new 'era of light', saying that in 30 years' time the European Union could grow from its current 27 members to 40 — including the United Kingdom rejoining the bloc alongside Norway, Moldova and Ukraine.