Agenda

The EPC and the Istanbul Policy Center-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative, are pleased to invite participants to an in-person Policy Dialogue on how to revitalise Türkiye-EU relations in the aftermath of the recent devastating earthquakes. Bringing together experts from Türkiye and Europe, the event aims to discuss how relations can move beyond their transactional nature. This issue will be tackled from different perspectives, from human security to political governance. Additionally, since the upcoming elections will be one of the major topics of discussion in Türkiye, the challenges concerning the election process will also be addressed.

Speakers:

• Amanda Paul, Senior Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre;
• Atila Eralp, Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow, Istanbul Policy Center;
• Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist, European Policy Centre;
• Michael Kaeding, Professor of European Integration and European Union Politics, University of Duisburg-Essen;
• Pelin Oğuz, Mercator-IPC Fellowship Program Coordinator, Istanbul Policy Center;
• Senem Aydin-Duzgit, Research and Academic Affairs Coordinator, Istanbul Policy Center.

Moderator:

The European Neighborhood has experienced dramatic changes in the past year. Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine keep altering the outlook of Europeans on the countries next to the EU and in cooperation with them. The aim of this “Riga Dialogue 2023” discussion is to identify irreparably damaged partnerships and ascertain the future of new friendships.

Discussion panelists:

• Nils SCHMID, Foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and member of the Bundestag;
• Jari VILEN, Finnish diplomat and former Minister of Foreign Trade and European Affairs of Finland;
• Velina TCHAKAROVA, Founder of For a Conscious Experience (FACE), Former Director of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy;
• Mikheil JANELIDZE, Former First Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia;
• Mykola KAPITONENKO, Associate Professor at the Institute of International Relations of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University (online).

Moderator

• Kārlis BUKOVSKIS, Director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs.

Learn more here.

This course will cover the following crucial topics, as the notion of State aid; State aid procedures: notified aid, unlawful aid (recovery), misuse of aid and existing aid; the compatibility of State aid; the Block Exemption Regulations and the horizontal and sectoral aid rules.

Accordingly, it will focus on the concept of State aid; the crucial judgments of the CJUE on State aid; the European Commission’s enforcement priorities; the revision of State aid instruments; the enforcement of State aid rules by national courts.

What will you learn:

Participants will learn about the basic principles of EU State aid policy; latest developments on State aid rules; recent case law of the CJUE and enforcement of State aid rules by a national court.

Course methodology/highlights:

The course sessions will be delivered by experts with a presentation on key topics. These will be followed by periods of Q & A allowing for the exchange of ideas, and discussions where participants will have the opportunity to share professional experiences.

Participants will have the opportunity to test their knowledge on enforcement of EU State aid rules through workshops and interactive presentations.

Learn more here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how quickly health professionals can come under high pressure in public health crises: while patient numbers increase steeply, fewer staff is available as many health professionals are themselves affected.

The presenter Friedrich Poeschel explores the potential of health professionals in a country’s diaspora, as a reserve for times of crisis. Temporarily returning emigrants might be much easier to absorb into the health system than other migrants. Using country-level data sets on the current health workforce (WHO) and on health workforce migration (OECD), indicators are developed for a wide range of countries, separately for doctors and nurses. Not only a higher number of health professionals in a country’s diaspora – relative to its current health workforce – but also a wider geographical distribution make it more likely that a substantial number are available to return temporarily during a crisis. In practice, such temporary returns would most likely be arranged through bilateral agreements. The presenter offers concrete suggestions which bilateral agreements could most effectively insure countries against a shortage of health professionals during the next public health crisis.

Learn more here.

On Thursday 6 April 2023, the annual Trends in Export event will be held in Rotterdam. This anniversary edition with the theme ‘Exporters: set your sights ahead’ welcomes starting and experienced exporters, export professionals and export managers. Clingendael experts Maaike Okano-Heijmans and Rem Korteweg have been invited to speak at the knowledge sessions.

Learn more here.

The IBERDROLA Manuel Marín Chair for European Energy and Climate Policy will organise its annual conference entitled “The Fast and the furious: Speeding up the green transition”.

The event will be opened by European Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius and Chairman of Iberdrola Ignacio Galán. The conference is composed of two modules:

1) “Renewables at full speed – what are the possibilities?”, which will explore the nexus renewables-environment, in particular in relation to expedited renewables permitting, offshore and onshore wind energy. It will explore the question of how fast the expedited deployment of renewables can go, and which challenges need to be met regarding the energy system, biodiversity and social acceptance.

 2) EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan. What are the different design options of the Plan, and how should the European Commission’s proposal be evaluated? Are we at risk of companies offshoring, and what can the Green Deal Industrial Plan do? Does the loosening of competition rules to deal with the energy crisis risk leading to distortion in the EU’s internal market?

Learn more here.

This book looks at Salafi influencers and foreign fighters in the Balkans to examine how the origins and dynamics of radical milieus are related to the legacy of the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War.

The work seeks to understand if and in what ways these wars influenced the consolidation of radical milieus and whether they impacted the recruitment of foreign fighters. In doing so, the book traces the path of more than 400 individuals that either traveled to Syria or were involved in recruitment locally. Employing a qualitative methodological approach, the book argues that radical influencers are likely to be more evident in postwar societies due to state and societal fragility, which create more power for social actors and constrain efforts to counter extremism. Through the activism of social actors emerging from wars, preceding conflicts resonate through society across different locations and particular postwar radical milieus do not need to be only in the place where war atrocities happened. Thus, radical milieus can spread to various locations including countries hosting postwar diaspora communities.

This book will be of much interest to students of radicalisation, terrorism and political violence, Balkan politics, Middle Eastern politics, and IR in general.

Learn more here.

This seminar is a part of the IIR’s flagship series of academic talks: Advances in International Studies. Salafism was the religious idiom that dominated Egypt’s aborted political transition in the wake of the 2011 revolution and up to the 2013 military coup. The leading political actors of the moment all mobilized strands of Salafism in a fight for religious legitimacy against each other: the Salafi Call and its political party al-Nour (itself internally divided), Hazim Abu Isma’il and his movement of revolutionary Salafis, and even the Muslim Brotherhood, which now openly borrowed from Salafi references and relied on Salafi religious figures, despite the movement’s distinctive political-religious history.

That reality stood in staunch contrast with the aspirations of Egypt’s more secular-leaning youth protest movements, which had played a key role in the initial uprising. How did this hegemonization of Salafi discourse in the Egyptian religious sphere come to be? And how do the resulting dynamics explain some of the Egyptian political transition’s eventual shortcomings?

Stéphane Lacroix is an associate professor of political science at Sciences Po, a senior researcher at Sciences Po’s Centre de Recherches Internationales (CERI) and the co-director of Sciences Po’s Chair on religion. His work deals with religion and politics, with a focus on the Gulf and Egypt. The event will take place at the IIR at 16:00. The registration is possible on the IIR website.

Learn more here.

Dealing with dynamism is one of the biggest challenges in public policies toward businesses. One reason is the state of mainstream economics: our theories, models and empirics have yet to supply generalised predictions about innovation, new firm creation, and entrepreneurship.

This is particularly evident in competition policy and economic regulation, where current theories and tools lead policy actors to reach findings that are inconsistent with industries’ reality.

However, other essential fields of government intervention, such as energy policy, healthcare, intellectual property, or monetary policy, face a similar predicament. As across the world, new laws and institutions are emerging to govern the digital economy, where a constructive re-examination of our economic frameworks seems legitimate.

With a focus on industry structure and organisation, one promising starting point for this enterprise is investigating the rich literature on dynamic competition. To date, however, works on dynamic competition have had limited impact on public policy, kneecapped by their high level of theoretical abstraction. Moreover, theories of dynamic competition are highly context-dependent, yielding different predictions and policy implications depending on the environment in which they are deployed (e.g. digital ecosystems). Thus, theories of dynamic competition have yet to evolve into a more applied and contextualised version.

The conference will look into new theoretical models, new combinations and applications of existing models, new frameworks for integrating innovation and dynamic competition in public policy (e.g., antitrust policy, market power regulation, and innovation and industrial policy) and new computational capabilities to better understand dynamic competition and design appropriate policies. Case studies will also be discussed.

Learn more here.

How do the new Structural Funds Regulations change Financial Management and Audit rules for 2021-2027? What are the key live issues for Financial Management and Audit of Operational Programmes as we conclude the 2014-2020 period and how are these likely to evolve in the new period? This course will address these questions and take a close look at the programme, financial and reporting templates for the new programmes. There will be a special focus on extending the use of simplified cost options, the most frequent audit issues (eg. eligibility of expenditure, public procurement) and on the role of strategic procurement.

What you will learn?

Practical issues to be discussed will include:

• programme finance, financial tables and the flexibility proposed for 2021-2027
• key issues for the eligibility of expenditure
• the extended use of simplified cost options and how to choose between them
• changes to the audit of accounts, systems and operations
• dealing with irregularities, corrections, withdrawals
• comparing the payment profiles of Cohesion and RRF funding
• the link between finance and performance, using the Performance Framework

How we work

Alongside the EIPA experts, there will be keynote presentations from Dermot Byrne, a leading Member State audit practitioner, and a senior European Commission expert specialising in the use of strategic public procurement. We aim to make the course as interactive as possible. Participants will have ample opportunity to exchange views informally on the course topics. Workshops and exercises will be used to help participants get to grips with practical tools and methodologies.

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The course will provide an up-to-date overview of the current rules and developments in European public procurement based on the public procurement directive (Directive 2014/24/EU) and the directive on the award of concession contracts (Directive 2014/23/EU). The public procurement directive will be examined in detail, covering the scope, procedures, rules on public contracts, contract performance and specific procurement regimes, and its practical development in the last years. The course will also address key issues in the use of competitive dialogue and the competitive procedure with negotiation. It will cover PPP/private finance, indicating where PPP are being used and when they work best for financing infrastructure projects.

This seminar is part of the programme for obtaining the EIPA’s European Certification for public procurement professionals. See more information here.

Course methodology/highlights:

The course includes case analysis, debates, and exercises, with plenty of interactive sessions. Participants would benefit from reading the Directives covered in the programme prior to the course.

Learn more here.

The course will provide an up-to-date overview of the current rules and developments in European public procurement based on the public procurement directive (Directive 2014/24/EU) and the directive on the award of concession contracts (Directive 2014/23/EU). The public procurement directive

will be examined in detail, covering the scope, procedures, rules on public contracts, contract performance and specific procurement regimes, and its practical development in the last years. The course will also address key issues in the use of competitive dialogue and the competitive procedure with negotiation. It will cover PPP/private finance, indicating where PPP are being used and when they work best for financing infrastructure projects.

This course is part of the programme for obtaining EIPA’s European Certification for public procurement professionals. See more information here.

Course methodology/highlights:

The course includes case analysis, debates, and exercises, with plenty of interactive sessions. Participants would benefit from reading the Directives covered in the programme prior to the course.

Learn more here.

Would you like to know what it is like to work for the leading think tank and academy on international relations in the Netherlands? Meet the experts & interns that work each day to inspire and equip societies, businesses and governments to encourage a secure, sustainable, prosperous and just world. Join this online event where you have the unique opportunity to go virtually ‘behind the scenes’ at Clingendael! You will have the chance to ask questions to our experts and interns from our different research units and academy.

Learn more here.

In 2020, the 64th session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women drew the attention to the urgency of strengthening synergies between sustainability and gender.  Indeed, gender equality is “a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world” (UN Sustainable Development Goals). But how to include the gender dimension in the sustainability discourse in an efficient way? And how to address the relevant challenges, especially during emergency times?

Bringing together a range of scholars, the forthcoming edited volume “Women’s Empowerment and its Limits: Interdisciplinary and Transnational Perspectives Toward Sustainable Progress” (Palgrave Macmillan/ Springer) aims to investigate the limits and boundaries of women’s empowerment to achieve sustainability. It does so firstly, by unpacking the de facto mechanisms (informal and formal) that matter for women’s inclusion (know the limits); secondly, by taking into account concrete examples of limits in practice (test the limits); thirdly, by proving how the rise of new technologic innovations may render limits obsolete (cross the limits).

The discussion on the book will highlight the complementary dimensions (socio-economic, cultural, public, and decision-making) of gender and sustainability issues. The two editors of the volume will discuss how this approach provides for a useful framework that enables to connect human rights, participation, and institutionalisation as building blocks for the pursuit of women’s empowerment. The event will take place at the IIR at 16:30. The registration is possible on the IIR website.

Learn more here.

Are racial hierarchies a thing of the past in contemporary international society? This question is worth pondering in the context of a resurgence of interest in race within the discipline of International Relations (IR). In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of post-colonial works that have taken seriously the discipline’s links with imperialism and colonial policies, or the racism that undergirds the ‘foundational knowledge’ of our theorising of international politics. This paper contributes to this debate by examining the case of the ‘Japan threat’ thesis which emerged in the late-1980s and early-1990s. Through this particular case, this paper offers the following arguments. First, because existing studies focus on actors who have been obvious racial ‘others’, they do not always capture adequately the dynamic nature by which racial boundaries are redrawn. Japan was, on the other hand, treated as part of the ‘West’ during the Cold War, but found itself cast as an outsider during this period. Examining the Japanese case allows us to understand the dynamics of this process. Second, I suggest that the ‘redrawing of the global colour line’ is a reaction to ontological insecurities emanating from predominantly ‘white states’, who have traditionally (and continue to) enjoy pre-eminence in international politics. Apart from consolidating notions of superiority and purity of predominantly White states’ identity, treating the ‘non-white rising power’ as fundamentally alien has the effect of wiping out any shared identities both sides previously possessed. This makes it potentially easier to engage in violence to re-establish the hegemony of predominantly ‘white states’.

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This course aims to provide an overview of how personal data protection affects the healthcare sector, from legal frameworks to current challenges. Module I will provide you with the basic principles of personal data protection under the GDPR about the healthcare environment.

Module II will provide an insight into the current European legal framework surrounding healthcare and data protection, like the proposed Regulation on the European Health Data Space and the Clinical Trials Regulation, which just came into force in 2022. A closer look at the challenges and opportunities facing the healthcare sector with regards to data protection, in particular the recent challenges faced, the complexities of data protection in clinical trials and research, the role of cybersecurity in protecting patients’ privacy.

What will you learn:

Module I:

• A refresher of the basic principles of data protection in relation to the healthcare sector
• GDPR principles and legal bases – different purposes in clinical trials, what health data is and how to tackle data retention
• GDPR obligations – transparency, records of processing activities and documentation system, international data flows in EU and global multi-centre trials
• Risk assessments and the DPIA – methodology and operational phases, data protection by design and default in the health research process, interactions with individuals e.g. data protection notice and consent, data subjects’ rights
• Interactions with third parties – roles of actors in the GDPR and healthcare sector: data controllers, data processors, data subjects, DPOs, sponsors, CROs, CRAs, investigators, monitors, laboratory, ethical committee
• GDPR compliance in relations with third parties
• The role of data security in the healthcare sector – the principle of adequacy, focus on anonymisation, pseudonymisation and cryptography, the data breach management process.

Module II:

• Data localisation
• Recent challenges to data sharing and data protection in the healthcare sector – COVID19, increased digitalisation
• Clinical Trials Regulation and the GDPR – the relations and prevalence between the two disciplines, with a focus on consent to treatment and to data processing
• Regulation on the European Health Data Space – explanation of the proposal, how it revolutionises the potential of health data, how it will benefit citizens, how it will benefit researchers on the one side and the critique by the EDPB/EDPS on the other side
• Technical tools applied to the management health data – app, telemedicine, e-signature, CCTV, medical device
• Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector – AI proposal and state of the art artificial intelligence

Course methodology/highlights:

We believe that practical know-how is the key to effective learning. This course therefore includes:

• Individual preparation for the course – you are invited to bring along any information about the mission, vision, values and data protection framework and governance within your organisation for case study;
• Group and individual assignments;
• An interactive approach: the module’s structure will give you the opportunity to ask questions and share and discuss experiences, knowledge, needs and challenges with the trainers and other participants;
• There will be time for note-taking on what you learn, so you can apply it to in your daily work and to your organisation

Learn more here.

New Structural and Cohesion Funds programmes for the period 2021-2027 have now been agreed and are being implemented. Many Member States are still setting up monitoring systems and writing Evaluation Plans for the new period. Are Member States clear about what the New Regulations say about the new monitoring and evaluation requirements?

Many Programme Authorities continue to conduct evaluations of their 2014-2020 programmes and projects, as well as planning evaluations for the 2021-2027 period. Are Managing Authorities collecting the best possible monitoring and evaluation data? Are they clear about how to measure the impact of interventions and what evaluation methods to use – theory-based or counterfactual?

Member State Recovery and Resilience Fund plans are being implemented rapidly. How do their monitoring procedures and data needs differ from Cohesion Policy?

What you will learn?

This is a webinar over 3 days (mornings and afternoons). We will examine:

• Monitoring requirements, choice of programme indicators, data challenges and the Performance Framework. A Czech Ministry official will assess the lessons learnt from 2014-2020 and the implications of the new requirements for programmes in 2021-2027.
• Programme and Reporting templates for the new Structural Funds programmes, highlighting the special link between finance and performance, and how will you report programme progress.
• How the RRF plans in Member states will be monitored and evaluated
• How to prepare an Evaluation Plan for the new period. Managing authorities must submit these Plans to Monitoring Committees within a year of programme approval. A leading evaluation consultant-economist will help us plan realistic evaluations – ones that are useful for evaluation stakeholders. We will focus on the timing of evaluation studies, the choices for project or programme evaluations on the ground, and consider the implications for data gathering.
• How to manage evaluation studies, including preparation of the Terms of Reference, aspects of fieldwork, and typical live issues for your current / planned evaluations.

How we work

Break-out groups, mini-workshops, exercises and videos will be used to develop simulations of essential elements of monitoring systems and evaluation plans, in order to provide a clear view of good practice in the key disciplines involved.

Learn more here.

Knowledge management (KM) is becoming increasingly important in the public service.

Civil servants in charge of effective service delivery, and ensuring knowledge sharing and talent management within and across teams, know how crucial it is to have quick access to relevant information, knowledge and expertise. Those with pressure to meet delivery objectives know how essential it is to retain the knowledge of colleagues who are leaving, and to onboard new colleagues effectively with systematic learning from their peers.

Covid-19 has forced institutions at all levels to switch to remote working, and this ‘new normal’ is here to stay. This poses new challenges for collaboration and sharing knowledge virtually. The fast initial adoption of quick and provisional tools has turned into the loss of efficiency and frustration among employees and stakeholders. We all have realised that tools are important, but a successful migration also requires leadership, clear guidelines and real commitment. Knowledge managers become the new strategists, where they need to develop and implement knowledge management strategies and action plans adapted to this new era of digitalisation.

The course will provide a sound understanding of the knowledge management and talent management concept; you will learn to apply proven tools and how to implement KM in your teams and in your organisation. Many best practice examples of KM in public institutions will inspire you.

The course will be based on the Knowledge Management Toolkit elaborated by our external expert Dr Klaus North for the European Commission. Furthermore, the experience of the UK Civil Service in linking KM and TM will be presented by our expert John Murphy. Other members of the team will explain different experiences and practices in different public organisations.

What will you learn:

• You will be able to discuss the stages for development of a conceptual KM framework, building up strategies and plans for implementing it.
• You will learn best practices from real examples and design training and intervention programmes for efficient knowledge transfer between generations. Each session will have a theoretical component, followed by interactive activities. Throughout the course, there is an emphasis on real-life examples and supported group work.

Course methodology/highlights:

After the introduction to KM and TM, participants perform a self-assessment and discuss typical challenges. Based on this  they learn what are effective tools and practices, both with exercises and in an interactive workshop setting.

EIPA presents the Practitioners Toolkit of the European Commission with the contribution of the authors of the guide.

EIPA explains and assists, in a very practical and interactive manner, in the use of the toolkit. We divide the package into different sets, which reflect the key steps in implementing KM in a cycle of continuous improvement and learning.

The second day is then devoted to learning from good practices and  implementing those practices in the respective organisations.

Combining the different modules in the programme, your organisation will develop its organisational capabilities to apply the most effective KM and TM tools.

Learn more here.

What is the EU? who does what in the EU? And what does the EU do for its citizens? Addressing these major questions, this three-day course will provide you with a concentrated, in-depth introduction to the legal system of the EU and the most important principles governing the adoption and enforcement of EU law. The first module introduces the fundamental characteristics of the EU legal system and provides an overview of the system of legal acts adopted at the EU level as well as the decision-making process for the adoption of EU law. The second module addresses the interpretation, application and enforcement of EU law, including through various procedures before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The third module provides an overview of the substantive action of the EU in the Internal Market, the protection of fundamental rights, and in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.

The course relies on practical examples and where relevant, will shed light on recent developments to illustrate the contents.

The programme is divided into three modules to offer you flexibility in adapting the course to your needs. Each module can be attended separately. If you prefer to attend only one of the modules, please select module 1, module 2 or module 3.

Module 1. The fundamental characteristics of the EU legal system and the production of EU law

This module studies the repartition of competences of the EU and Member States in the regulation of policy sectors, analyses how the various types of EU legal acts are adopted at the EU level, and comments on their respective legal force and their impact on state authorities and individuals. It also explains the fundamental concepts (primacy, direct effect, state liability, etc.) governing the relations between EU and national law, and their practical consequences on the daily work of national magistrates, law enforcers, members of the legislative authorities, etc.

Module 2. Interpretation, application and enforcement of EU law

This module depicts the organisation of the judicial space in the EU, clarifying the respective role of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the national jurisdictions in the enforcement of EU legality. Secondly, it describes the structure and competences of the CJEU. Finally, it provides a practical account of the various procedures which may be brought before the CJEU by EU institutions, Member States, and natural and legal persons to contest the legality of EU action to prosecute an alleged breach of EU law by a Member State, or to interrogate the Court about the meaning of an EU law provision.

Module 3. Introduction to substantive EU law : the Internal Market, the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and the protection of fundamental rights

This module provides an introduction to how EU law regulates key policy areas. We will cover the basics of fundamental freedoms in the Internal Market, the specific rights arising from EU citizenship including the freedom of movement and residence. We will also present the EU’s system of protection of fundamental rights and we will provide an introduction to the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, within which the EU has been developing its asylum policy as well as judicial cooperation.

What will you learn:

This course will help you to navigate through the ‘jungle’ of various legal acts that are adopted at the EU level. In addition, you will acquire a systematised knowledge of the EU decision-making process and become familiar with different ways of challenging breaches of EU law before the Court of Justice of the EU. You will also acquire knowledge and understanding of the EU’s action in the internal market, fundamental rights protection, and the area of freedom, security and justice.

Learn more here.

What you will learn in this course:

• the key concepts of Better Regulation (BR) and how they are applied across the policymaking cycle.
• how the BR tools are used in practice in the European Commission (EC).
• how Member States (MSs) implement the Better Regulation Agenda and gain insight into the challenges and pitfalls of different modalities.

Course methodology/highlights

The course will be led by experts who have decades of both research and practical experience in evaluation in an EU context and beyond. The course delivery will combine interactive presentations, showcasing practical examples, quick polls to consolidate concepts and quick group exercises.

Learn more here.