News 2018-2019

21-22 November 2019: The Value of Citizenship for Individuals and States

The GLOBALCIT Annual Conference marked the tenth anniversary of GLOBALCIT, the event was a truly special one.The two keynote speeches, papers presented in seven panels, and a book roundtable, engaged over 40 academics in discussing what citizenship means in an increasingly globalised world. The quality of papers presented at the conference, participant’s engagement and collaborative spirit during the discussions, have all contributed to the success of this year’s annual gathering of citizenship scholars.

8-9 November 2019: Eastern Europe 30 years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall

30 years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, there is widespread disillusionment with the outcomes of the transformation in the East. Public distrust in democratic institutions and political leaders, perception of widespread corruption, limited economic and social convergence with the West, and recurrent East-West conflicts attest to this. The conference aimed to confront the hopes raised in the early years of transformation with the outcomes 30 years later.

17-18 October 2019: The MFF and EU Policies 2021-2027: The EU towards 2030

A workshop on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) after 2021 took place after the new Commission and the new Parliament were respectively announced. The aim was to assess which policy options could contribute to shape the EU policies for the next decade. The keynote speech by Pier Carlo Padoan and two roundtables were recorded and are available on Youtube.

5 September 2019: Europe in the New World (Dis)order, lecture 

Alexander Stubb gave a lecture where he presented his vision about the current challenges for Europe. He is Vice-President of the European Investment Bank since August 2017 and served as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade and Europe Minister of Finland. His background is in academia and civil service, with a focus on EU affairs. The event was organised by the European Governance and Politics Programme. 

29 May 2019: The Most Contested European Elections ever? A Read-Out of the 2019 Vote for the European Parliament 

The results of the European Parliament elections were expected to produce a highly fragmented Parliament, with the long-dominant centre-left and centre-right blocs unable to form a coalition by themselves, therefore assigning greater influence to smaller players such as the Liberals, Greens and populists. On 29 May, the European Governance and Politics Programme organised a roundtable to discuss the outcome of the vote. 

23-24 May 2019, The Effects of Multilevel Governance Conference

The conference organised by the European Governance and Politics Programme, brought together cutting-edge research on the political, social, and cultural consequences of multilevel governance. While most analysis on the topic had been concerned with the causes of multilevel governance, this conference asked what can we learn by considering the consequences of the architecture of governance.

25-28 March 2019: FSR Global Forum 2019 World Energy Transition

The Forum, organised by the Florence School of Regulation, is a four-day event fostering practice-oriented solutions on key aspects of the world energy transition. It provides a platform for multi-stakeholder engagement to facilitate transnational knowledge exchange. The Forum developes around 12 knowledge spaces to facilitate interactive discussions and digitally maps the key insights of each session. The topical issues addressed have a special focus on Latin America, Africa and Asia.

19 March 2019: What Agenda for the Next European Parliament?, workshop

The European Parliament elections in May 2019 came at a critical time in the evolution of the EU, when divergence on many issues characterise member state relations and wider global developments weigh heavily on Europe. The EUI wants to highlight the issues that are at the heart of the political agenda at this juncture. A number of ‘EP Elections Policy Papers’ on all of the major issues were produced and presented at a workshop on 19 March in Brussels.

14-15 March 2019: Recasting the Welfare State 20 Years Later, conference

On 14 and 15 March 2019, many of the participants to the 1998-1999 European Forum at the Schuman Centre, reconvened for a two-day open workshop ‘Recasting the Welfare State 20 Years Later’. The reunion aspired, once again, to make way for a rich exchange of ideas and opinions, on the past, present, and future state of comparative welfare research, this in particular with respect to the perennial political truth that reform is difficult.

30 January 2019: Digital Dictatorship or Digital Republic? Law and Ethics of China’s Social Credit System, workshop

China’s effort to build and implement its so-called Social Credit System is a fascinating case of a technological ecosystem designed for social control. It represents the attempt of the Chinese government to rate its citizens based on their good or bad behavior. But what does this mean for the Chinese people? Does the Chinese Social Credit System make for a digital republic or a digital dictatorship? Leading experts discussed these and more questions in a workshop hosted by the Global Governance Programme. 

7 December 2018: Monitoring media pluralism in Europe: between old risks and new threats, conference

The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) is a holistic tool to assess the risks to media pluralism in a given country. In 2017, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom carried out the EU-wide implementation of the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM2017), including three candidate countries. The results were presented and discussed at the conference that took place in Brussels. Moreover, a roundtable discussion featuring scholars, experts, stakeholders and policy-makers draw attention to more recent digital-related challenges.

27-28 November 2018: LIFE SIDE Final Conference 

The final conference of the LIFE SIDE project, organised by the FSR Climate in collaboration with DG Climate Action of the European Commission, provided the opportunity to present the conclusions of a literature-based report, assessing the performance of the EU ETS and to discuss some of the most pressing issues of the EU ETS post-2020. High-level policy makers and stakeholders, as well as representatives from the industrial sector, NGOs and academia attended the event. 

28-29 September 2018: World Trade Forum 2018

More than 100 trade practitioners, and scholars, government officials, and representatives of international and nongovernmental organizations participated in the 2018 World Trade Forum. Sessions addressed a variety of issues, such as the state of play in the WTO and global trade policy trends, external trade strategies of the EU, China and the United States, measurement of sustainability and many more.