Studying the EU: Current and Future Challenges

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Conference venue: EUI, Refettorio – Badia Fiesolana – Via dei Roccettini 9, I-50014 San Domenico Di Fiesole (FI) - Italy Conference administration: Laurence Duranel, tel. +39-055-4685 761

Studying the EU: Current and Future Challenges

JOINT CONFERENCE EUI – CoE 3-4 DECEMBER 2015 – Florence OBJECTIVE OF THE CONFERENCE

The College of Europe and the European University Institute are sister institutions; we work in post-graduate and post-doctorate education, with a specific mandate ‘to foster the advancement of learning in fields which are of particular interest for the development of Europe, especially its culture, history, law, economics and institutions’ and to ‘develop interdisciplinary research programmes on the major issues confronting contemporary European society, including matters relating to the construction of Europe’ (Convention establishing the EUI). We are engaged in educating the next generation of scholars and practitioners and in our research programmes we bring together scholars from all over Europe and the world in our unique international and cross-disciplinary environments. From this perspective, we aim to initiate and stimulate a debate among institutions of higher education over the current challenges facing the study of Europe, ranging from its place within university curricula to the funding drivers for research, from the risks and benefits of cross-disciplinarity to the historical turn in EU studies. By ‘European’ and ‘EU studies’ we intend to include not only ‘European studies’ in the traditional sense but also single-discipline studies that have Europe and/or the EU as a focus, such as EU law, EU integration history, the study of European politics and governance and even more specialised fields such as the economics of EMU. We aim to encourage a cross-disciplinary conversation and exchange about the issues currently facing research and teaching in these fields, and not only from the perspective of those specifically engaged in interdisciplinary programmes.

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The objective of this conference, co-organized annually by the EUI and the CoE, is to start this conversation by making an assessment of the state of EU studies in the sense just explained. It will involve scholars involved in teaching and research on the EU, from a range of disciplines in social science and humanities (law, economics, political science, sociology, history, IR…), as well as practitioners from the EU institutions. A series of cross-disciplinary round-tables will focus on a number of key challenges and questions facing those working on the EU within (and beyond) Europe with a view to initiating and leading a debate on the future of research and teaching the EU within institutions of higher education. In addition to the debate itself, which we hope will be the start of a longer-term reflection led by the two institutions, we envisage three different types of published output, aimed at different audiences:

- a report summarizing the discussion and conclusions of each round-table - a two-page summary of the conference for wider distribution

- (potentially) an academic paper in a peer-reviewed journal

Teaching and research on the EU is, today, well developed in the EU and beyond. Numerous scholars define themselves as ‘EU specialists’, within the field of their discipline, and EU specialised disciplines have their own professional organisations, journals and book series. There are now chairs and postgraduate Masters courses in EU affairs in all the main universities.

However, EU studies face a crisis. It is, above all, linked to the uncertainties of European integration and the rise of Euroscepticism in many member states, and even within EU institutions. For the first time, we must consider seriously the possibility that one or several member states may leave the EU. The young generation also seems less enthusiastic about European integration, or at least less confident in the possibility or attraction of working for the EU or on EU affairs. Finally, the level of information of citizens on the EU does not improve over the years.

How can we explain this situation? What can EU specialists do about it? How can researchers face the evolutions of European integration and adapt to them? Should EU scholars change the way they teach EU affairs? How do we create our research agendas and are we too – or not enough – responsive to the urgent issues of the day, which may change tomorrow but which may also herald systemic shifts?

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P

ROGRAMME

Thursday, 3

rd

December 2015

REFETTORIO, BADIA FIESOLANA

13.30 Lunch (Sala Rossa)

14.45 Introduction:

O. Costa (CoE) and M. Cremona (EUI)

15.00 Welcome addresses:

JHH. Weiler (EUI) and J. Monar (CoE)

15.30 Round-table 1: Studying Euroscepticism / Critical analysis of the EU

(Chair) Jean-Paul Jacqué, College of Europe and Président du Pôle européen d'administration

publique

Brigid Laffan, European University Institute, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

Nathalie Brack, Université Libre de Bruxelles, FNRS Researcher in Political Science Jacques Nancy, European Parliament, Head of the Public Opinion Monitoring Unit Simon Usherwood, University of Surrey, Senior Lecturer in Politics

17.00 Coffee break

17.30 Round-table 2: The challenges of interdisciplinary research on the EU

(Chair) Marise Cremona, European University Institute, Professor of European Law

Sieglinde Gstöhl, College of Europe, Director of International Relations and Diplomatic Studies (Bruges)

Anthony Teasdale, European Parliament, Director General of the European Parliamentary Research Service

Federico Romero, European University Institute, Professor of History of Post-War European Cooperation and Integration

Helene Sjursen, University of Oslo, Professor, ARENA Centre for European Studies

19.00 End

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Friday, 4

th

December 2015

REFETTORIO, BADIA FIESOLANA

09.30 Round-table 3: The impact of funding on research topics and research design

(Chair) Philipp Genschel, European University Institute, Professor of Comparative and European

Public Policy

Joseph Jupille, University of Colorado, Professor of Political Science

Angela Liberatore, European Research Council, Head of Unit, Social Sciences and Humanities Rob van Gestel, University of Tilburg, Professor of Theory and Methods of Regulation

Jan Wouters, University of Leuven, Professor and Director of the Centre for Global Governance Studies

11.30 Round-table 4: Teaching the EU

(Chair) Inge Govaere, University of Ghent, Professor of European Law and College of Europe, Director

of European Legal Studies

Amie Kreppel, University of Florida, Professor of Political Science, Jean Monnet Chair (ad personam)

Pascaline Winand, College of Europe, Director of European Interdisciplinary Studies (Natolin) Ramon Marimon, European University Institute, Professor of Macroeconomics

Claire Kilpatrick, European University Institute, Professor of International and European Labour and Social Law

13.00 Lunch (Sala Rossa)

14.30 Round-table 5: Methodological challenges

(Chair) Olivier Costa, College of Europe, Director of European Political and Administrative Studies

(Bruges) and CNRS-Bordeaux, Research Professor

Bjørn Høyland, University of Oslo, Professor of Political Science

Sergio Fabbrini, LUISS - Guido Carli, Director of the School of Government and Professor of Political Science

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Claudio Radaelli, University of Exeter, Director of the Centre for European Governance, Jean Monnet Chair in European Public Policy

Päivi Leino-Sandberg, University of Helsinki, Adjunct Professor of EU Law

16.30 Synthesis of round-tables (5 chairs)

17.30 Concluding remarks