When Johannes Lindner was 25 years old, he shook hands with Jacques Delors – the former President of the European Commission – for the first time. A photo of that moment hangs on the bulletin board in his office at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Lindner has been the co-director of the Jacques Delors Centre at the Hertie School in Berlin since October 2022. He heads the think tank and works on economic and financial policy issues.