The EU and member states: sharing the same political orbit?
Ongoing tensions around the European project have been accompanied by what could be described a popular disaffection towards European Union. Other elements have also created a divide between the EU and its citizens, revolving around the idea of solidarity: the Eurozone crisis, the refugee and Schengen crisis, the looming threat of a "Brexit", which all represent at their heart differing views about a common future for Europe. What is the role of the institutions in reflecting and enacting these preferences and how to bridge contrasted national perspectives to better legitimise the EU in the eyes of the citizens?
This conference aimed to present the findings of the Building Bridges project to a wider audience and to stimulate a public debate on national views on the EU in Brussels where it is often secondary. It was planned to gather 80 participants from 13 countries (Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Slovakia, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark and Belgium) but due to the terrorist attacks in Brussels on that day, most of the registered participants could not join.
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9h30-9h45 |
Presentation of the results of the Building Bridges project Vivien Pertusot, Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri), France |
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9h45-11h15 |
Do Europeans still like (each) others? With Julie Hamann, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Germany, Antoinette Primatarova, Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS), Bulgaria and Marton Ugrosdy, Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT), Hungary. |
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11h15-11h30 |
Coffee break |
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11h30-13h00 |
Is growth still associated with the EU? With Yiannos Ioannou, Cyprus Centre for European and International Affairs, University of Nicosia, Cyprus, Lola Raich, Austrian Institute for International Politics (OIIP), Austria and Senada Selo Sabic, Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Croatia. |
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13h00-14h00 |
Lunch |
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14h00-15h30 |
How to strengthen the EU in member states? With Ana Benje, Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Comenius Unversity, Slovakia, Maja Kluger Rasmussen, Think Europa, Denmark, Guido Lessing, Centre for European Studies and Research (CERE), Luxembourg and Mihai Sebe, European Institute of Romania (IER), Romania. |
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15h30 -15h45 |
Coffee break |
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15h45-17h15 |
Does the EU need to be more active in the world? With Dominique David, Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri), France, Sandra Fernandes, University of Minho, Portugal and Roderick Pace, Institute for European Studies, University of Malta. |
Please see the full programme below (PDF file).
Follow @Bridg_EU on Twitter and join the debate #BB4EU.
The project Building Bridges between National Perspectives on the EU is co-funded by the “Europe for citizens” programme of the European Union.
For more information about this event, please contact vaudolon@ifri.org, +32 (0)2 238 5110.