For a study commissioned by the Flemish public broadcaster (VRT) and the newspaper De Standaard, Jonas Lefevere (Vesalius College / Institute for European Studies) and Stefaan Walgrave (UAntwerp) conducted an extensive survey of Flemish voters in an effort to track evolutions in political opinion since the 2019 general elections in Belgium, now roughly one year ago. 

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and in line with Belgium’s federal government restrictions, the EUIA organising team and the partner institutions have decided, with much regret, to postpone the EUIA20 conference for one year, to May 26-28, 2021.

More than 400 colleagues have already proposed or reviewed papers and panels, so we have decided to maintain the existing paper selection. In view of the altered circumstances, authors will be allowed to bring their papers and panels up to date. A decision on whether to issue a supplementary call for Papers will be made in due course.

Given these extraordinary circumstances, we believe that this rescheduling is the most foresighted option for the EUIA conference. We wish that our community members can travel and gather safely soon, and hope to see you all next year, healthy, in Brussels.

EuroSim is an annual international simulation of the EU bringing together over 200 students and faculty from more than 20 colleges and universities in the US and Europe. As an active member and a host of this event in 2018 in Belgium, the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel will select and sponsor 10 students across its LLM in International and European Law, Advanced Master in European Integration, and Postgraduate Certificate in EU Policy Making programmes of the 2020-21 academic year to become a part of its delegation for EuroSim2021, in the US, provided of course that the COVID-19 measures at that time will allow us to do so.

The Coronavirus or COVID-19, has impacted every fibre of our societies in significant and unforeseen ways, some of which will undoubtedly have lasting consequences. As researchers and experts, we have the opportunity to see firsthand some of the more immediate impacts which the Coronavirus has had within our areas of expertise and research. As such, we are uniquely positioned to provide key insights into the wide-ranging impacts and consequences of the Coronavirus. Particularly, what these consequences can mean for the future of our societies in the areas of migration, justice, diversity, environment, sustainable development, economy and international security.

While EU-South Korea relations have attracted growing attention in recent years, the relationship between key EU member states and the Asian country remains underexplored. To remedy that, the KF-VUB Korea Chair has now issued a new report thatdescribes and analyses the recent evolution of the relationship between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Sweden, on the one hand, and South Korea on the other. The report covers the areas of economic relations, security relations, bilateral relations and North Korea, and cultural relations. Find out what its main conclusions are! 

IES Doctoral Researcher Klaudia Majcher and Joseph Waldstein launched an open and forward-looking blog – ‘The Afterlife’. This is a platform for people around the world to share their ideas on what they want to change: personally, and in society at large. On this platform, everyone can publish ideas and children can present their art works. 

The idea behind this is to bring people closer together, at least by sharing ideas. The creators of this blog want to take peoples’ minds off the current events, even if only for some minutes – by looking ahead. The blog accepts contributions in English and between approximately 150 and 300 words. The blog posts should present an opportunity for change in your daily life or in the world. Now or in the future – and triggered by Corona.