Historical Archives of the European Union 4.0: A Hub to Study the Neo-green Functionalism of Integration in the European Environmental Governance
Sabrina Brizioli (University of Perugia and former Environmental cluster Archival Fellow)
Integration has become crucial for the environmental policy of the European Union, not for the sole embodiment of a Treaty obligation or just because it has been turned into an issue for the environmental protection per se. It actually operates as the lynchpin in articulating sustainable development patterns and likely provides renewed impetus for the rise of future environmental rights. The study of the materials of the HAEU fonds proves that integration has taken different forms along its continuum and the process of integration has been so dynamic that weak integration contributed in the long term to the fundamental integration of economic, social and environmental claims for the achievement of sustainable development. The research firstly proposes a neo-green functionalism of the concept/principle of integration applied to the EU environmental governance then the theorical framework is structured into a digital hub, which operates as a dedicated scheme, to create thematic relationship between the fonds of the Archives while figuring out the storyline of integration.
The European Investment Bank at the Origins of a European Environmental Policy
Jacopo Cellini (Alcide de Gasperi Research Centre, EUI)
Climate action and environmental sustainability are now at the centre of the European Union’s (EU) strategy, whose overarching goal is to make the EU climate neutral by 2050. They are also the top priorities of the European Investment Bank’s (EIB), as it is planning to become the EU’s climate bank. This research project aims to retrace the initial steps taken by the EIB in this field, from the early 1970s until 1993, when the Treaty of Maastricht came into force. The study will address the quantitative and qualitative impact of environmental issues on the EIB activity, by tracing the relevance of environmental protection in the Bank’s strategy and in specific projects, with a view to reconstructing the history of the emergence of the environment in the European Community (EC) policy preferences. During this seminar I will present the current stage and future perspectives of the research.