On 6 & 7 June, IES professor Harri Kalimo, assisted by IES researcher Lea Mateo and Chris Yon (UPitt), gave SOLVIT experts from the Member States two days of intensive training on EU free movement of goods law. The training covered a wide range of scenarios of obstacles that companies (in particular SMEs) encounter with public authorities in the Member States when attempting to operate across the borders and market their goods. The impacts of SOLVIT’s reinforced legal expertise should improve the help they provide to companies to make the best use of the opportunities the  internal market has to offer, and hence contribute directly into a more efficient European economy. 

LLM Joonas Alaranta defended his Doctoral thesis “Chemicals and the circular economy A study on the management of substances of very high concern and the circular economy by the REACH regulation” at the University of Eastern Finland on Friday 27 April. IES professor Harri Kalimo acted as the opponent in the defence, commending the work as a very topical piece of scholarship. The work of Alaranta shows amongst other things that the requirements of REACH set administrative requirements and costs on the resource flows of a circular economy. 

Picture Taken by Oskari Korhonen

Vrije Universiteit Brussel and University of Warwick to establish a double master’s in Politics, International Studies and European Integration

On Wednesday 28 March, Caroline Pauwels, rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and Stuart Croft, vice-chancellor of the University of Warwick in the UK, signed a collaboration agreement in the University of Warwick’s base in London’s Shard building. This is a remarkable move, as the consequences of Brexit for cooperation between European and British institutions are still not clear. The two universities are aiming to strengthen their ties – beginning with a joint master's programme in Politics, International Studies and European Integration.
 

IES Executive Director Anthony Antoine gave a keynote opening speech at the fifth series of workshops of the EU-LEAD project in Ankara, held on 1-5 May at the Middle-East Technical University (METU). The sessions hosted over 60 European and Chinese university leaders and key staff members to discuss university governance structures and university leadership. LEAD, or in full ‘Governance and Academic Leadership of Chinese and European Universities in the context of Innovation and Internationalization’ is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building Project sponsored by the European Commission. 

On 30 May 2018, Carlos Coria Rodríguez defended his PhD thesis entitled “The international and European environmental regulation of marine renewable energies in the EU”. His promoters were Prof. Dr. Harri Kalimo and Prof. Dr. Sebastian Oberthür. As a PhD researcher at the IES, Carlos was a member of IES’ Environment and Sustainable Development Cluster. His research interests include public international law and EU law, with special focus on marine environmental law, law of the sea, marine renewable energies, biodiversity conservation and oceans governance. The Institute for European Studies would like to congratulate Dr Soria Rodríguez for successfully defending his PhD thesis.

On April 24-25, 2018, the Asan Institute for Policy Studies hosted the Asan Plenum 2018 in Seoul. The theme of this year’s Asan Plenum was “Illiberal International Order.” As in previous years, the Asan Plenum 2018 gathered leading experts from around the world, including the President of the Institute for European Studies Karel De Gucht, to engage in intensive discussions pertaining to this year’s theme. 

The arrival of GDPR, the growing EU involvement in cybersecurity, and the regulation of ‘fake news’ are but a few examples of the rapidly increasing importance of data law in society. As a frontrunner in international and European law, the Institute for European Studies now offers its LLM students the opportunity to specialise in this exciting area of law (starting in the 2018-19 academic year).

The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) published its 2017 Annual Report. UNU-CRIS has a strong bond with the Institute for European Studies, since it signed an agreement in 2016 with Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel which marked the start of a new partnership.

In 2017, UNU-CRIS organized several academic sessions and a research seminar series, welcomed its first PhD Fellows, launched the research project AMIREG, and continued working on RIKS and the European funded project EL-CSID. UNU-CRIS engaged actively with policy-makers and civil society. The institute generated a steady output with no less than nine books and 20 book chapters. 

On Tuesday, 5 June, professor Caroline Pauwels, rector of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and professor François Germinet, rector of the French Université Paris Seine, signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The same day, a previously signed MoU with the University of Warwick was ratified into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). In these agreements, the European universities commit to collaborate more closely with regard to research and education in the future. For the Institute for European Studies, this opens up new opportunities for collaboration both in research and education. The commitment is to be seen in light of the call made by the European Council to create a network of European Universities by 2024.

The draft programme of the #EUIA18 conference is now published and available here. From May 16-18th, academics and policy-makers will discuss the international role of the EU. Around 290 academic papers will be discussed in the course of these three days. #EUIA18 will also feature a range of policy-link panels gathering senior policy-makers and EU politicians to discuss issues such as EU-UN relations, the future of European defence policy or the EU’s standing in the world. 

On 25 and 26 April, Irina van der Vet and Florian Lang represented the IES-VUB in the second consortium meeting of the H2020 Mindb4act project. The meeting took place in Vienna. The Mindb4Act project aims at developing novel initiatives, trainings and policies in the field counter-radicalization and countering violent extremism. The IES is leading several tasks and one work package as well as coordinates several key activities throughout the project, like, for instance, establishing a Belgian Living Lab on Schools and Media to design innovative solutions to deradicalization.

On 15 June 2018, Luk Van Langenhove and Alexander Mattelaer will be debating the position of the Benelux Union as a part of the EU, at a panel debate in Antwerp organised by Forum Benelux. Before a diverse audience of businesspeople, cultural, social and scientific organisations, politicians and journalists they will discuss a range of topics including the role of the Benelux in the EU’s quest for stability and progress, Benelux dependence on EU, consequences of Brexit, etc.

Interested in a trip to the Big Apple that will offer you first-hand experience in Transatlantic relations? And in a unique opportunity to work and learn in an exciting multicultural environment? And what about a visit to UN HQ? Then enroll in one of our 1- or 2-year study programmes and we might choose you to join nine fellow students for a trip you will never forget!

Professor Alexander Mattelaer was recently involved in two debates in the Belgian Parliament. In the first one on 17 April, he presented the report of the New Pact on Europe project (funded by the Koning Boudewijnstichting / Fondation Roi Baudouin), including his thoughts on the role of Belgium. The report contains an elaborate proposal to energise Europe and thus prepare it for future challenges. On 25 April, Alexander contributed to a debate on the replacement of Belgian F16 fighter planes.

Another #EUIA18 conference has come to an end. From 16 to 18 May, the 6th European Union in International Affairs conference (#EUIA18) took place in the Palace des Académies in Brussels. With 392 participants, #EUIA18 broke all previous attendance records. It has been wonderful to witness once again so many stimulating debates on the EU in International Affairs. Speaking for all organisers, we hope it has been a fruitful, value-adding and pleasant experience! We would like to thank our sponsors Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO), Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), and Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Kingdom of Belgium. Special thanks to the Brussels Parliament for hosting an amazing EUIA dinner in an exquisite setting – and to the Korean Mission to the EU that provided the dinner. We hope to see you all at the next EUIA conference in 2020! #EUIA20

Senior researcher Richard Higgott is the author of the EL-CSID report titled “Towards the Private Provision of a Public Good: Exploring the Role of Higher Education as an Instrument of European Cultural and Science Diplomacy with reference to Africa”. The European Union’s (EU) universities and their provision of higher education (HE) to international students remains one of its most powerful global development and cultural assets. The EU operates a wide-ranging set of strategies to assist Africa in enhancing the quality and quantity of its HE. Yet EU’s strategy towards HE in Africa fails to understand or to engage the private sector to help grow the number of Africans undertaking tertiary study. This study identifies the benefits and opportunities of international private provision and proposes a set of next steps as part of a targeted ‘strategy of engagement’ for greater international private involvement in higher education in...

The German Bertelsmann Stiftung has today released its updated Transformation Index (BTI 2018). Every second year, the BTI measures political and economic progress in 129 transformation countries around the world and belongs to the most detailed comparative country analyses.

IES researcher Jan Claudius Völkel serves as the BTI’s Regional Coordinator Middle East & North Africa, and is hence responsible for the detailed assessment of 19 MENA countries, which stretch from Morocco in the West to Iran in the East, and from Turkey in the North to Sudan in the South. For this, he has organised and supervised the conduct of independent analyses by two renowned experts per country. The findings are worrying: overall, democracy has reached its lowest level ever in the MENA region, only Tunisia has stabilised its achievements since the 2011 revolution.

Following the University Council’s approval on 30 March 2018, the Annual Report 2017 of the IES is now available online. In its 15^th anniversary year, the IES organised 33 public events, awarded 4 PhDs (bringing the total of PhDs awarded by the institute to 32), produced 117 publications, of which 24 peer-reviewed articles, and 25 book chapters, and collected 4 academic awards. Additionally, the IES also internally published 7 policy briefs, 2 policy papers and 7 working papers. Our Institute now counts 106 people or 48.9 full-time equivalents.

Students of the University of Southern California, enrolled in the Brussels Programme on European Foreign Policy, were welcomed with a reception on Monday 28 May. They spent their first week getting to know their individual internship places at various institutions. The students will be staying in Brussels for five weeks while attending lectures on topics such as European integration and foreign policy, European security challenges, and European trade and environmental governance. The programme is organized every spring by IES. It is led by Dr. Daniel Fiott and Dr. Luis Simon.

The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), with which the IES has a close collaboration, cordially welcomes applications from outstanding (post)doctoral researchers looking to enhance their career development and prospects by working abroad. Located in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bruges, close to Brussels and many institutions of the European Union, candidates at UNU-CRIS will not only find themselves embedded within the global United Nations University research network, which directly supports the broader UN system, but will also be able to take advantage of a unique partnership that UNU-CRIS has with both Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Successful candidates will be supervised by the Director of the Institute, Professor Madeleine Hosli. They will furthermore be provided with an office, along with a computer and free access to both the UNU-CRIS library facilities and those of its partner universities.  

Between 31 May and 1 June Silviu co-organised the 3^rd European Conference on Teaching and Learning Politics, International Relations and European Studies – EuroTLC together with Dr. Heidi Maurer (London School of Economics and Political Science) and Dr. Tomas Weiss (Charles University Prague). After two successful editions in Maastricht (2014) and Brussels (2016), the conference endorsed by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES), the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), the British International Studies Association (BISA) and the Political Science Association (PSA) was held at the Charles University in Prague where it welcomed scholars from across Europe, China and the US for one of the 20 workshop sessions or 15 paper panels.