This article is based on the opening talk of the 2nd European Conference on Magnetic Reconnection in Plasmas. The session was in the form of a dialogue between Philippa Browning and François Waelbroeck, who presented complementary perspectives from the space plasma and the fusion research communities, respectively. The two presenters were guided by a set of six questions regarding magnetic reconnection to debate key conceptual and practical differences between the two communities. The discussion was led by Francesco Pegoraro, and the questions were defined in advance together with Dario Borgogno and Daniela Grasso to have a logical and balanced development of the topic.
Browning et al. (2026) studied this question.