Programme – The State of the Union 2014

Download the Conference Programme (PDF)

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The State of the Union conference, organised by the European University Institute (EUI), is an annual event for high-level reflection on the European Union. The conference’s fourth edition will bring together leading academics, policy-makers, civil society representatives, business and opinion leaders to discuss the future of the social and political model for Europe and the upcoming European Elections.

Official hashtag of the conference: #SoU2014

Wednesday 7 May – Badia Fiesolana, European University Institute

17.30 – 18.30 Opening Debate – Refectory, Badia Fiesolana

17.30 - 18.30 A New Architecture for Europe and the Challenges to the EU Foreign Policy

The debate will be followed by a Q&A session with the public and the media.

Brigid Laffan is Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, and Director of the Global Governance Programme, EUI. Since August 2013 she was Professor of European Politics, Vice-President at the School of Politics and International Relations, University College of Dublin. She was the founding director of the Dublin European Institute from 1999 and member of the Royal Irish Academy (2004). She is a member of the Board of the...

Romano Prodi is the former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission. After serving as a Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna, he entered government as Minister of Industry in 1978. In 1996 he was appointed Prime Minister on May 17, 1996. In 1999 he was named President of the European Commission: during his five-year term, the EU expanded beyond its western European...

J.H.H. Weiler is President of the European University Institute (EUI). Previously he served as Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Chair at Harvard Law School and subsequently as Director of the Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law. Weiler is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON). Weiler is also an Honorary Professor at University College London and the University of Copenhagen...

Thursday 8 May – Badia Fiesolana, European University Institute

14.30 – 16.30 The Future of the Social and Political Model for Europe

Download the Parallel Sessions Detailed Programme

14.30 - 16.30
Session A
Session B
Session C
Session D

The Future of the Social and Political Model for Europe - Parallel Sessions

Today Europe is facing important questions as regards its unity, its democratic legitimacy, its social solidarity and its global role in trade and development in a fast changing world.
The parallel sessions present cutting-edge research findings in specific policy areas where these social and political challenges are played out, by discussing the Gordian knot of controlling migration vs providing asylum, questioning the European social model in higher education, looking at the EU neighborhood policy dilemmas in the light of the dramatic events that have unfolded in Ukraine and last but not least, by discussingthe role of the EU in stimulating and regulating trade, investment and development.
Migration Challenges for the EU in the Next 10 Years
The European Commission is currently preparing the new 5 year plan for asylum and migration policies, which has to take stock of lessons learnt so far and of the new institutional environment under the Lisbon Treaty. Particular areas of concern include the management of legal migration, the cooperation with third countries, the control of irregular migration together with an effective asylum system, and increasing intra EU migration.

Chair:
- Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schumann Chair, Global Governance Programme, EUI
Speakers:
- Sergio Carrera, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Justice and Home Affairs Programme, Centre for European Policy Studies
- Philippe De Bruycker, Deputy Director, Migration Policy Centre, EUI
- Ruby Gropas, Research Fellow, Global Governance Programme, EUI
- Ettore Recchi, Professor of Sociology, Observatoire Sociologique du Changement, Sciences Po
- Martin Scheinin, Professor of International Law and Human Rights, Department of Law, EUI
The European Social Model in Higher Education: Are the Poor Paying for the Rich Kids to Study?
In a knowledge-based society, education is an important asset for the state, in pursuit of the public interest. New evidence suggests though that a free for all public higher education system is actually perpetuating inequality and preventing upwards mobility for the working class youth while it also deprives public Universities from much-needed open competition and meritocratic funding. This panel offers cutting edge recent findings on the management of higher education and proposes ways to reform it.

Chair:
- Andrea Ichino, Professor of Econometrics, Department of Economics, EUI
Moderator:
- Daniela Vincenti, Editor-in-Chief, EurActiv
Speakers:
- Stefania Giannini, Italian Minister of Education University and Research
- Lorenzo Stanghellini,
  Professor of Business Law, Department of Law, University of Florence
After Ukraine: A New Cold War?
The uprising in Ukraine and the dramatic events that have unfolded in the last few weeks raise big questions. Do the developments in Ukraine and in Russia-EU (or Russia-West) relations signal the start of a new type of tension, a ‘Cool War’? How should the EU reconsider the nature and aims of its Neighbourhood Policy in the light of these developments? What are the implications of these developments for security and defence in Europe? And what are the implications for wider global politics and balances?

Chair:
- Brigid Laffan, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
Speakers:
- Marise Cremona, Professor of European Law, EUI
- Ulrich Krotz, Professor of International Relations, Joint Chair RSCAS/Department of Political and Social Sciences, EUI
- Anthony Teasdale, Director-General of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), European Parliament
The WTO Deal in Bali and Shift Towards Mega-Regionals - Missed Opportunities?
After 12 years and counting the WTO concluded its first agreement at the Bali Ministerial meeting in December 2013. Does it matter? Europe and the US are putting most of their eggs into another basket: plurilateral agreements with like-minded countries. Will they generate any significant economic payoffs? Do they have downsides? The big emerging economies are excluded or not participating. New approaches are arguably required to benefit European countries and its trading/development partners.

Chair:
- Bernard Hoekman, GGP Programme Director Global Economics: Trade, Investment and Development, EUI
Speakers:
- László Bruszt, Professor of Sociology, Department of Political and Social Sciences, EUI
- Joseph Francois, Professor of Economics, Bern University and World Trade Institute
- Patrick Messerlin, Professor Emeritus, Sciences Po and Chairman of ECIPE’s Steering Committee/Advisory Board
- Andrea Renda, Jean Monnet Fellow, EUI

18.30 - 19.30 Refectory, Badia Fiesolana

18.30 -19.30 Keeping our collective memory alive, presentation by José Manuel Barroso

The debate will be followed by a Q&A session with the public, moderated by J.H.H. Weiler, President of the European University Institute.

José Manuel Durão Barroso is the President of the European Commission, a position he has held since 2004. From 2002 to 2004 he served as Prime Minister of Portugal as leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), following posts as Minister for Foreign Affairs and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. As well as being leader of the PSD, Barroso was Vice President of the European People’s Party. An early career in academia...

Friday 9 May – Palazzo Vecchio, Salone dei Cinquecento

8.00 – 9.00 Delegates Registration – Cortile della Dogana

9.00 – 9.30 Welcome

Dario Nardella was elected Member of Parliament in February 2013 where he was member of the Parliamentary Commission for Economic Affairs and Development Program. In February 2014 he resigned following his appointment as Deputy Major of Florence. From 2006 to 2008 he was legislative advisor for the Minister of Institutional Reforms in Prime Minister's cabinet. He has been President of the National Committee for Economic Development of Italian Municipalities...

Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos is is the Hellenic Minister of Education and Religious Affairs (June 2012 to the present). He is also Professor of International Relations at Panteion University. He received his PhD from the School of International Service of American University. He has been Post-doctoral Fellow at the Centre for European Studies of Harvard University (1990-92), Assistant Professor of Government...

9.30 – 10.30 "10 Years in Office, the Road Ahead" interview with José Manuel Barroso by J.H.H. Weiler and Tony Barber

Tony Barber is Europe Editor at the Financial Times, writing on European business, economic and political news. From 2007 to 2010 he was the newspaper’s Brussels bureau chief, following five years as Rome bureau chief and four years heading up the Frankfurt bureau. Before joining the FT Barber worked for The Independent newspaper, from 1992 to 1997 as east Europe editor and Europe editor. He began his career with Reuters in 1981 ...

10.30 - 12.00 The Crisis: Did We Do the Right Thing? What Should We Do Next? discussion with Karel de Gucht, Mario Monti, Sylvie Kauffmann, Bernard Hoekman and Anna Triandafyllidou

Karel De Gucht is Commissioner for Trade since 2010. Following an initial career in law, Commissioner De Gucht was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 1980, as which he remained until 1994. During his political career, Commissioner De Gucht has been a member of the Bureau of the PVV-Open Vld political party, Member of the Flemish Parliament and Minister for International Trade.In 2004, he was elected Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2009, he became…

Bernard Hoekman is the Director of the EUI`s research strand “Global Economics” and of GGP. He has held various senior positions at the World Bank. He worked in the GATT Secretariat and at Sciences Po. He is graduated at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and holds a Ph.D. from the Michigan University. He is a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and a Senior Associate of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Turkey and Iran...

Sylvie Kauffmann is the editorial director of Le Monde. She was Editor-inChief from 2010 to 2011, before which she led the newspaper’s in-depth reporting section. From 1996 to 2001 Kauffmann was the newspaper’s New York bureau chief, moving from her post as correspondent in Washington, DC. She reported on the collapse of the Soviet Union as eastern and central Europe correspondent from 1988 to 1993, having joined Le Monde in 1987...

Mario Monti is a member of the Italian Senate and President of Bocconi University in Milan. He was prime minister of Italy from November 2011 to April 2013 and led the Civil Choice (SC) Party in the national elections in February 2013. From 1999 to 2004 Monti was European Commissioner for Competition, following five years as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. He was previously Professor of Economics and Rector at Bocconi University...

Anna Triandafyllidou is Professor at GGP, where she coordinates the Research Area on Cultural Pluralism. Previously, she was part time professor at the RSCAS (2010-2012), she was Senior Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (2004-2012). She is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges since 2002 and a member of the Spinelli Group since its foundation. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immigrant...

12.00 - 12.30 Keynote by Matteo Renzi

Matteo Renzi is Prime Minister of Italy since 22 February 2014. He was elected Secretary of the Italian Democratic Party in December 2013 and served as Mayor of Florence from 2009 to 2014. Previously he was elected President of the Province of Florence in (2004-2009). He was Editor-in Chief of the Camminiamo Insieme Magazine and he is the author or co-author of several books: “Mode – Guide agli stili di strada e in movimento”, “Ma le giubbe rosse non...

12.30- 14.00 Lunch – Sala d’Arme

14.00 - 14.45 The State of the Union: Disintegration or Revival?, discussion with George Soros and J.H.H. Weiler

George Soros, is the Chairman of the Open Society Foundations. He is an investor and philanthropist also the chairman and funder of Soros Fund Management. From 1963 to 1973 he was the vice-president at the investment bank Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.From 1956 to 1959, he worked as an analyst for Wertheim & Co. During this period he developed the “theory of reflexivity” based on the ideas of Karl Popper...

14.45 - 15.15 The State of the Union by Brigid Laffan

15.15 - 15.45 Presentation and Use of euandi: The 2014 EP Elections Voting Advice Application, targeting over 10 Million Users

Alexander H. Trechsel is a Professor of Political Science and the first full-time holder of the Swiss Chair in Federalism and Democracy at the EUI. He is also a faculty fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Before joining the Institute in 2005 he spent six years as Vice Director of the Research and Documentation Centre on Direct Democracy (c2d) at the University of Geneva. Trechsel is co-director of EUDO...

15.45 – 16.15 Coffee Break – Sala d’Arme

16.15 - 17.45 2014, First European Elections?

European Elections have so far been characterised as “second-order” elections, preceded by a campaign based on mainly domestic rather than European issues. Also, EP elections were characterised by particularly low turnout, with an outcome favorable to small parties and political forces from the opposition in their national contexts. It may be argued that this picture has changed since the outbreak of the economic and financial crisis in Europe. For some observers, first signs of a “Europeanisation of European Elections” have become visible in 2009 already. Will the 2014 EP elections become the first truly European elections?

Chair:

Speakers:

Roberto D’Alimonte is Professor of Italian Political System at LUISS. He was Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Florence (1974-2009), and has been visiting professor at the University of Yale and Stanford. From 1993 on, he lead a research group focused on elections and the evolution of the Italian political system, whose findings have been published by Il Mulino He is also Director of the Italian Centre for Electoral Studies and commentator for...

Klaus Dieter Frankenberger is Foreign Editor at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His writings deal especially with the US, European, transatlantic, and international politics. Previously, he served as assistant to a member of Congress in 1985 and 1986, thereby taking a closer look at the political decision-making process of the US. He prepared research positions at the Centre for North American Studies in Frankfurt am Main and a Marshall-Fellowship at Harvard...

Sylvie Goulard has been an MEP since June 2009. She is Coordinator of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for the ALDE Group. She studied at Sciences Po (Paris) and the Ècole Nationale d’Administration. She has worked as a diplomat in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as at the Council of State. Between 2001 and 2004 she worked with the President of the European Commission. Between 2006 and 2010, she was president of the...

Miguel Poiares Maduro is Portugal’s Minister for State and Regional Development and Minister Adjunct to the Prime Minister. Until April 2013 he was the director of the EUI`s Global Governance Programme. From 2003 to 2009 Maduro was advocate general at the European Court of Justice. In academia he has worked as a professor at the New University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law and at the Autonomous University of Lisbon, where he was director...

Federica Mogherini is the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs. She was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2008 and in 2013, where she was a member of the Defence Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and of the Italian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In 2013 she was elected Chair of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO...

18.30 - 20.00 The Televised Presidential Debate: Candidates for the European Commission’s Presidency are Challenged over The State of the Union in the Presence of Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy

Participants:
José Bové, member of the European Parliament, is the candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission with the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. A farmer, unionist and environmental activist, he has led numerous international rallies and protests against market consolidation, globalization of agriculture, genetically modified crops and shale-gas. After being the spokesperson of the Farmer’s Confederation, in 2007 he stood as candidate in the French

Jean-Claude Juncker chaired the Eurogroup from January 2005 until January 2013 and was its first permanent President. Previously, he was Parliamentary Secretary of the Luxembourg Christian Social Party (CSV) from 1979 to 1982 and chairman of the CSV (1990-1995). He was repeatedly Minister of Labor and of the Finance and Prime Minister from 1995 till 2013. He was also governor of the World Bank (1989-1995), Governor of the International Monetary Fund...

Martin Schulz President of the European Parliament and has been elected by the Party of European Socialists as candidate to the next EC Presidency. He is a German politician and a member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Since 2004 he is the leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament and since 2009 he is the SPD’s European coordinator, responsible for improving...

Guy Verhofstadt is the Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He has been a member of the European Parliament since June 2009. Prior to that he was Prime Minister of Belgium, leading three separate governments starting in 1999. He started his political career as a Law student in Ghent, where he was elected President of the Liberal Flemish Students’ Union. Four years later he was elected as a City Councillor in Ghent. He went on to take a number...

Moderated by:

Monica Maggioni, is the Director of Rainews24. She studied at the Catholic University of Milan and the School of radio and TV journalism in Perugia. She has worked for Euronews (1994-1996) and since 1996 she works has been working for RAI. She covered the Second Intifada (2000-2002), the attack on the World trade Centre (2001), the Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2005) and Barack Obama’s election (2008). She is a contributor to various...