EXACT Final Conference 10 – 12 July 2013, Brussels

The Final Conference of the Marie Curie Training Network EXACT will take place at the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels from 10 – 12 July 2013. The EXACT Fellows will present their research in form of a poster exhibition and feedback sessions together with their supervisors and the EXACT Visiting Scientist Prof. Brigid Laffan (University College Dublin). Furthermore, guest speakers and a roundtable with participants from the EXACT partner projects INCOOP and PEGASUS will contribute to the three-day conference. All in all the draft programme foresees three public events:

-       The opening of the poster exhibition in the framework of a public reception and an intervention by Prof. Jolyon Howorth (University of Bath) on July 10, 18h00;

-       The key note address of David O’Sullivan (Chief Operating Officer of the European External Action Service) and a reception on July 11, 17h00;

-       The public roundtable “The Future of EU PhD Studies” on July 12, 9h30.

For further information on the programme please visit www.exact-training.net.

EXACT Intervision Seminar at the University of Cagliari, Italy, 14-15 June 2013

On 14-15 June six EXACT fellows – Vanessa Boas, Andrew Byrne, Niklas Helwig, Nicole Koenig, Marco Siddi and Simon Stross – participated in the EXACT Intervision Seminar at the University of Cagliari, Sardinia. EXACT Visiting Scientist Dr. Geoffrey Edwards (Cambridge University) commented on the work presented by the Fellows. The event was hosted by Dr. Christian Rossi and Dr. Gianluca Borzoni of the University of Cagliari.

The seminar provided an excellent opportunity for the EXACT Fellows to discuss draft chapters of their PhD dissertation and analyse theoretical, methodological and empirical issues. The Faculty of Political Science at Cagliari University offered a stimulating and pleasant work environment. Other members of the academic staff and local PhD students also participated in the seminar proceedings.

News from the Fellows:

Leonhard den Hertog and Simon Stroß, Coherence in EU External Relations: Concepts and Legal Rooting of an Ambiguous Term, ”European Foreign Affairs Review”, Volume 18, Issue 3 (forthcoming).

Anita Sęk, participation in the International Summer School THESEUS ”The Future of EU Economic Governance”, 17-21.06.2013, Brussels.

Anita Sęk, presentation “Azerbaijani persepctive on the European Union as a regional and global actor”, at the “New Challenges in the European Area: Young Scientist’s 1st International Baku Forum“, organized by Azerbaijan Young Scientists, Postgraduate and Masters Union (AYSPMU), in cooperation with European Council on Doctoral Students and Young Researchers Eurodoc, 20-25.05.2013, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Anita Sęk, “Workshop Report: The Development of a European Defence Technological and Investment Base”, European Parliament, May 2013, Brussels.

 Marco Siddi, Russia and the forging of memory and identity in Europe, in Studia Diplomatica 65(4), 2012, pp. 77-103

Abstract. This article analyses Russia’s role in collective memory and national identity construction in France, Germany and Poland. By comparing memory discourses across the case studies and Russia, it attempts to explain why profoundly different perceptions of Russia exist in European countries and how such discourses affect prospects for the emergence of a shared European memory of the twentieth century. This work argues that the different representations of Russia in national memory discourses are one of the main factors preventing the emergence of a harmonised European collective memory. Read full article here.

Marco Siddi, authoring, editing and coordination of special issue of Meridiani Relazioni Internazionali on Putin III, one year after re-election, May 2013, available here (in Italian).

Think Global – Act European IV: Thinking Strategically about the EU’s External Action

Elvire Fabry and Chiara Rosselli (eds.), Paris, Notre Europe-Jacques Delors Institute, April 2013

This is the report that a network of 16 European think tanks  ”Think Global, Act European” founded in 2008 by the French Notre Europe-Institut Jacques Delors issues every eighteen months on the EU’s new priorities to be presented to the so-called “trio presidencies” of the EU.

In this fourth edition of the report, the IAI contributed as co-leader of Working Group IV on the European Neighbourhood Policy. A seminar on the topic was already organized in Rome in 2012. Contributions presented at the seminar by Michele Comelli, Amirah Fernandez, Timo Behr and Adam Balcer were then merged in the final report. The report was presented on 15 May 2013 during a public conference entitled “Un nouvel élan d’action pour une stratégie extérieure de l’UE”.

Data sheet on the publication available here.

Michael G Tutty,

John O’Hagan, Shared Economic Sovereignty: Beneficial or Not and Who Decides?, The Institute of International and European Affairs, 30 May 2013. More information available here.

Conference on ‘Ten Years After Thessaloniki: An appraisal of the EU perspective and challenges in the Western Balkans’, the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Dublin

On 24 May, the IIEA and the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union hosted a high-level conference to mark the tenth anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Thessaloniki. At this summit in 2003 a firm commitment was made to the countries of the region that ‘the future of the Balkans is within the European Union’. The Thessaloniki Agenda continues to shape the EU’s relations with the region, although the euro crisis and the consequent focus on institutional change within the Union pose significant challenges for the future of enlargement to the Western Balkans. This conference reflected on the progress made over the last ten years, the difficulties encountered and the outlook for the completion of the project.

The conference was hosted by Ireland’s Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, TD, and opened by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore TD. Other speakers included Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Croatia, Vesna Pusic; and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Dr. Miroslav Lajcák.

Videos, speech transcripts and podcasts of the conference are now available on the IIEA website.

Regular monthly events of the Europe Club in Budapest

   April 17: Hungary in the mirror of abroad, by Krisztián Szabados, managing director, Political Capital

   May 14: The Eurocrisis and Hungarian monetary policy, by Péter Felcsuti, former president of the Hungarian Banking Association

Presentation of foreign experts

    April 03: Jürgen Jaerger, University of Regensburg, Vice Rector for International Affairs and Institute for East and Southeast European Studies: The government debt crisis in the EMU: What can we learn?

International conferences

    April 18-19, Budapest: ”The Good Society and Europe – After the Crash”, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Budapest Office. Keynote speach by András Inotai on “Progressive growth strategies in Europe”

    May 07, Vienna, 60 years of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe – Jubilee conference with contribution on the present and future of the Danube region in the European Union, by András Inotai

    May 28, Sofia, Presentation of the study on “Sustainable growth based on export-oriented economic strategy. The Bulgarian case in an international comparison”, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Sofia Office and the Economic Policy Institute, Sofia. Presenter: András Inotai, author of the study

    June 06-07, Brussels, LISBOAN Third Annual Conference, Working Group Workpackage III: Economic and Financial Policy (moderated by András Inotai)

Publications

    András Inotai, Macroeconomic impacts of the 2008-09 crisis in Europe. In: Joan DeBardeleben and Crina Viju, (eds.), “Economic crisis in Europe. What it means for the EU and Russia”, palgrave-macmillan, 2013, pp. 21-46.

    András Inotai, Sustainable growth based on export-oriented economic strategy. The Bulgarian case in an international comparison. Friedrich Ebert Foundation Sofia Office, Sofia, 2013. 50 pp.

Conference “Further EU Enlargement in South Eastern Europe – the Road Ahead”, 17^th April 2013, Westin Hotel, Zagreb

The Institute for Development and the International Relations (IRMO) from Zagreb and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) from Stockholm organized the conference on enlargement on the occasion of the visit of the Swedish Royal couple to Croatia. The main purpose of this event, supported by the Swedish Embassy in Zagreb, was to assess implications of Croatian EU accession on the 1st of July 2013 for continuation of the EU enlargement process in the region of South-Eastern Europe. The speakers at the conference were Neven Mimica, Deputy Prime Minister for Home, Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Paul Vandoren, Head of the EU Delegation in Croatia as well as experts from each country of the region and Turkey. In assessing implications of Croatian EU membership the panellists indicated that it represents the EU gateway for the whole SEE region.

See more information here.

50th Anniversary of the Institute for Development and International Relations, 21^st May 2013, Mimara Museum, Zagreb

The Institute for Development and International Relations celebrated its 50th anniversary under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ivo Josipović, Ph.D., in the Mimara Museum in Zagreb on May 21st, 2013. It was the occasion for recalling the long history, the different areas of research and the work of the Institute, as well as for presenting the Institute’s vision of its future development.

See more information here.

Culturelink Conference “Cultural Diversity, Civil Society and International Cultural Cooperation in South East Europe”, 3-4 June 2013, Mimara museum, Zagreb 

This event was organized jointly by the Culturelink / IRMO and the Centre for Democracy and Law Miko Tripalo in cooperation with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (Venice). The aim of the conference was to assess cultural diversity as the principal challenge of our time, analysed as such in all the EU’s cultural programs. UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which was adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in 2005, was at the centre of the Conference programme. The Convention aims to foster cultural interaction and dialogue, and to establish innovative approaches towards international cooperation.

See more information here.

The German-Baltic Strategy Talks 2013 were devoted to research and debates on the changes that are caused by problems and shifts within the Eurozone, the European Union and global politics. Germany is one the leading countries in the EU and aspiring European champions in economic and political achievements; the Baltic States form an important part of the functioning the Baltic region. Are the Baltic States a new natural partner for Germany, and what is the place of the Baltics in the emerging re-shaped European Union? Can one identify Europe’s future in the context of the MFF 2014-2020 talks and the sovereign debt crisis? Is there in Europe a political and economic alliance that is sustainable without the securitizing presence of the US? Can we perceive the EU’s relations with the CIS countries without the European Neighbourhood Policy? While answering these questions, new issues for future debate were posed at the event.

The 15th Deutsch-Französischer Dialog (Franco-German Dialogue) under the heading ‘Federal Europe? Solidarity – Subsidiarity – Democracy’ took place in Otzenhausen (Germany) on 16 and 17 May 2013.

In spite of the progress already achieved, the European Union has not fully overcome its ongoing crises. In light of this consideration, participants of the 15th Franco-German Dialogue discussed future perspectives of European integration in two panels and four working groups. The debates centered on the question of the necessity of a federal structured Europe. This puzzle was broken down into four working groups that discussed a European social model, means to create a European public and the composition of an upcoming convention. The working group, which was organized by IEP, addressed the reform of the Union’s architecture in light of the vision of a political union.

Further information about the Franco-German Dialogue are available here.

President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö will host a debate on foreign and security policy at Kultaranta on 16–17 June 2013. The Kultaranta talks will feature a wide-ranging discussion on the current and future state of Finland’s foreign and security policy.

The participants invited to the event include around one hundred foreign and security policy experts from various areas of society, including political decision-makers, researchers and representatives of administrations, business life, organisations and the media.

The Office of the President of the Republic of Finland will organize the event in cooperation with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.