From 1 to 12 February 2021, the IES will organise the very first edition of its online Jean Monnet Winter School on EU Policy-Making, in collaboration with its partners the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. This Winter School will build on the long-standing expertise of the similar (offline) Summer School that the IES and its partners have organised for almost 20 years. 

"North Korea-US Relations from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un", a book written by Dr Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Institute for European Studies, has been rated as one of the top 10 books reviewed in 2020 by International Affairs.

The editorial team of the International Affairs journal wrote in their book review that “Ramon Pacheco Pardo does an absolutely brilliant job of outlining the North Korean perspective on its changing relationship with the US. Pacheco Pardo draws on discussions with US, Chinese North Korean and South Korean policymakers to demystify the North’s Strategy adding important detail to cursory accounts of the country as a rouge state.” A full book review is available here.

On Monday 23 November 2020, IES LLM Prof Dr Frank Hoffmeister testified in a parliamentary hearing at the German Bundestag on the topic of introducing qualified majority voting in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. Based on considerations relating to functional urgency, the cost of disunity and foreign attempts to divide the Union, professor Hoffmeister argued in favour of using more qualified majority voting in CFSP.

From October to December 2020, IES researcher Maximilian Ernst was invited as research fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS). His research explored Chinese economic coercion in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe and proposed avenues for transatlantic cooperation.

On 1 & 2 December 2020, IES professor Harri Kalimo, assisted by IES researchers Lea Mateo, Selçukhan Ünekbaş and Álvaro Herrero de la Fuente, organised a two-day expert training to the “SOLVIT centres” in the EU Member States.  SOLVIT is a service, which the EU law requires the administrations in each Member State to offer, with the aim to provide practical solutions to individuals and economic operators whose EU free movement rights may have been breached on the EU internal market  by measures taken by the national adminsitrations.

On 15 December, IES Researcher Marco Giuli spoke at the external panel debate “Azerbaijani gas in Europe and the role of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline”. The panel was held online and was organized by the Centre for the Analysis of International Relations in Azerbaijan. 

In his presentation, Marco focused on the core interests of the European Union in the finalization of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and identified three main dimensions: material, normative and ideational.

On 27 November, GOVTRAN Project Researchers brought together four experts on International and European Climate change policy and governance. Namely, Lavanya Rajamani, Professor of International Environmental Law, University of Oxford, Li Shuo, Senior Global Policy Advisor, Greenpeace East Asia, Byford Tsang, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G and Karsten Sach, Director General, German Ministry for the Environment.

On 10 November the results of the study “How can we transform the Flemish industry, to ensure it can thrive in a climate-neutral Europe by 2050?” were presented to over 200 stakeholders in the presence of the Flemish minister of innovation Hilde Crevits. This study was performed by Climact, Deloitte, the Antwerp Management School and the Institute for European Studies (VUB). The study presents options to achieve deep emission reductions towards climate neutrality by 2050 by Flemish industry, a roadmap towards this goal, and the enabling policy framework.

We are pleased to announce that on 23 November 2020, Malasree Neepa Acharya successfully defended her PhD thesis on ‘Anchoring Circulation of India’s Diaspora Entrepreneurs: Creating Cosmopolitan Home and Work Lifeworlds in Bangalore’s Interconnected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem’! Neepa's co-promotors were Prof. Dr. Ilke Adam (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Prof. Dr. Alison Woodward (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The jury was chaired by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Oberthür (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and consisted of Prof. Dr. Jamal Shahin (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Prof. Dr. Roger Noll (Stanford University, USA), and Prof. Dr. Noelle Brigden (Marquette University, USA). Our warmest congratulations to Dr. Acharya!