Conference with David Lidington, Minister of State for Europe of the United Kingdom : "The Future of the European Union: Our shared Agenda"
Practical information
Meeting chaired by Thierry de Montbrial, President, Ifri.
Working language: English
Read two recent studies of the Ifri :
In Europe, not ruled by Europe: Tough love between Britain and the EU, Vivien PERTUSOT, Note de l'Ifri, March 2013
Discussions of a potential “Brexit”, the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, have sparked debate in Britain, and also across Europe, intensified by the UK veto of the “fiscal compact” at the European Council in December 2011. What sounded like the absurd pipedream of a few hard-core eurosceptics a couple of years ago has now become a genuine possibility. This study argues that this state of affairs does not originate from a deliberate strategy by the UK or its European partners. Rather they have set themselves on diverging paths, one leading to more integration, the other at best to the status quo - actually a form of relative disintegration - or to less integration. The more the gap widens, the less improbable a “Brexit” appears
Defence Reform in the United Kingdom: A Twenty-First Century Paradox, John LOUTH, Focus stratégique, n° 43, Ifri, march 2013
The context of budgetary constraint offered a strong incentive for the 2010 Coalition Government to improve its management of defence equipment. Before that, the previous Labour governments already focused on smart acquisition so that the procurement process could reach a trade-off between military performance, the R&D costs and the purchase value. Thus, several smart acquisition reforms aimed at importing private sector skills and behaviours into the defence public domain. By building its logic around public-private partnership (PPP), smart acquisition can be apprehended as an interlocking of three factors: organisation, the high level of process and body of knowledge, and the people who promoted and enacted its processes, behaviours and objectives. Due to organisational confusion, ineffective project management and unclear objectives, successive UK governments have failed to manage operational and financial risks, cost overruns and diseconomies.
Other events
From Ambition to Action: Exploring Technological Partnerships with India
The 16th EU-India Summit, held on January 27th in New Delhi with European leaders António Costa, Ursula von der Leyen, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marks a significant milestone in deepening EU-India relations. At the same time, official bilateral visits from EU member states are on the rise, including that of the French President, who visited India in February to participate in the Artificial Intelligence Summit. As India asserts its technological ambitions and seeks to reduce its dependence on China, Europe is stepping up its efforts to diversify its strategic partnerships.
The Enlargement of the European Union: A Strategic Choice? France, the Western Balkans and the EU in an Uncertain Geopolitical Context
Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought the enlargement of the European Union back to the centre of European strategic debates. In this context, the Western Balkans have regained heightened visibility in discussions on the continent’s security, at a time when the international environment is marked by a growing number of destabilising factors.