Margherita Capannoli, Giovanni Costenaro and Shayan Hashemian have been awarded EPP Group Postgraduate Research Grants for 2024.
Margherita Capannoli is a doctoral student in European Studies at the University of Genoa and the University of Bologna. Her project ‘Democrazia Cristiana and the Conservative party: the Italian Christian Democrats and Britain's access to the European Economic Community (1961-1973)’ explores the transnational party connections between Italy's Christian Democrats (DC) and British political parties, particularly the Conservative Party, in relation to the UK's accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) from 1961 to 1973. It aims to assess Italy's mediating role between EEC member states and the UK and the impact of the DC on European integration.
Giovanni Costenaro, a doctoral candidate at the European University Institute, received support for his project ‘Agents of Decolonization? Italian and West German Christian Democratic leaders and the Association of the Overseas countries and Territories to the European Economic Community (EEC), 1957-1963.’ Giovanni aims to investigate the role of West German and Italian Christian Democracy in the European Economic Community’s external relations, specifically with regard to the development of post-colonial relations and their contributions towards European integration.
Shayan Hashemian is a doctoral student at the University of Potsdam. His project ‘The Making of a Global Christian Chancellor: Helmut Kohl, the European Christian Democrats and Lebanon, 1973- 1982’ seeks to analyse the relations of Helmut Kohl, the Christian Democratic Union and the European People's Party with the Lebanese Christian political parties. Shayan hopes to deepen our understanding of transnational party links and also provide a hitherto under-researched perspective of Helmut Kohl as opposition leader.
The EPP Group Postgraduate Research Grant
The European People's Party Group Postgraduate Research Grant Programme targets researchers interested in the history, role and impact of Christian Democracy, and in particular of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, on decisive moments in the process of European integration. Grant recipients may use their award to consult primary sources held at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence, at the EPP Group’s archives in Brussels and/or at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) in Sankt Augustin - Bonn.