ACES and SPUI25 have joined forces to organise a series of five roundtables: a Virtual Visions of Europe series on Pandemic Politics and Corona Crisis Response. In each roundtable ACES experts and external guests discussed the pandemic from a specific angle. You find here all the links to the online video's for each session.
The current Covid-19 pandemic confronts the European Union and its member states with unprecedented challenges. Public health ‘competition’ between countries instead of cooperation, leading to the closing of borders even in the Schengen zone. An economic slump unfolding on a scale not seen since the 1930s. Ever-increasing north-south and east-west divides in Europe.
These challenges come on top of the ‘polycrisis’ experienced by the EU and it members states over the past decade: first the financial and euro crises, then the refugee and migration crisis, followed by Brexit, alongside rising euroskepticism and attacks on the rule of law in a growing number of member states. At the same time, moreover, the multilateral global order within which the EU operates is increasingly challenged by the hostility of nationalist leaders such as Putin and Trump, but also the re-positioning of China in global affairs.
How will the European Union emerge from this crisis? Will the Union come out stronger, with a larger budget, more powers to coordinate public health measures, and reinforced solidarity within the Eurozone? Or will the EU’s inability to reach agreement and take the lead on critical issues in fighting Covid-19 result in a long-term weakening of its internal authority and external influence, or even a full-scale collapse of the European project, as Emmanuel Macron has warned?
This series is co funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Commission
Currently, there are no upcoming events in this series.
On procurement and distribution of medical supplies, and their implications for free movement and border controls – should the EU be given stronger powers? In this first edition of VVE experts discuss the procurement and distribution of medical supplies, and their implications for free movement and border controls within the EU. Should the EU play a bigger role/be given stronger powers, and if so of what sort?
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union
Speakers
Moderator: Jonathan Zeitlin - Distinguished Faculty Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the UvA and ACES Academic Director
What will be the economic and social impact of the pandemic? How are the EU and its member states responding? In the second edition of VVE we discuss new monetary and fiscal measures by the ECB and member states, the debate over solidarity, including the use of the European Stability Mechanism, the European SURE initiative for temporary (un)employment support, and the proposal for corona (euro) bonds.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union
Speakers
Moderator: Jonathan Zeitlin
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting politics at the national and European level? In the third edition of VVE we discuss how the corona pandemic is affecting politics, at the national and the European level. Is it producing cohesion or polarization among parties and public opinion? How are populist parties and leaders positioning themselves, with what results? How do these patterns differ across countries, and how can they be expected to develop going forward?
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union
Speakers
Moderator: Jonathan Zeitlin
What are the implications of the crisis for the EU’s relationships with other global and regional powers? The fourth edition will shift the focus to the present and future challenges for the EU’s geopolitical role both in its immediate Neighbourhoods and in the wider world. What are the implications of the crisis for the EU’s relationships with other global and regional powers, most directly the US, Russia, China and Iran?
Co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union
Speakers
Moderator: Luiza Bialasiewicz
The VVE series concludes with a discussion on the implications of the crisis for the EU in general. Will the EU emerge stronger from the crisis, e.g. with a larger budget, more powers to coordinate public health, and reinforced solidarity within the Eurozone? Or will the EU’s inability to reach agreement and take the lead on critical issues result in a long-term weakening of its internal authority and external influence?
Co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union
Speakers
Moderator: Christina Eckes
Following on from the success of the first five Virtual Visions of Europe events, the series has been extended to include events that look beyond pandemic politics and the coronavirus response to visions for Europe’s future. In these events, we look into the potential of a green transition under the European Green Deal, the EU’s response to Brexit, and how to construct a hopeful future from an “age of unpeace”.
The European Green Deal is the flagship initiative of the von der Leyen Commission to meet the existential threat of climate change and environmental degradation by transforming the EU into a modern, resource-efficient economy, ensuring no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth decoupled from resource use, and no person and place left behind. Does this deal respond sufficiently to the need for a green transition? What role can it play? And what are the challenge of the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow?
Speakers:
Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, that morphed into an existential crisis for the single currency, the EU has been beset by crises amounting to a polycrisis. How can we understand the EU’s response to these crises? What were the roles of political actors and collective institutions in delivering enhanced capacity in this response?
Speakers:
We thought connecting the world would bring lasting peace. Instead, it is driving us apart. In the three decades since the end of the Cold War, global leaders have been integrating the world's economy, transport and communications, breaking down borders in the hope that it would make war impossible. In doing so, however, they have unwittingly created a formidable arsenal of weapons for new kinds of conflict. In his new book, Mark Leonard argues that rising tensions in global politics are not a bump in the road - they are part of the paving. How can the EU respond to these challenges? And how might we construct a more hopeful future from an age of unpeace?
Speakers:
The outcome of the UK referendum on 23rd of June 2016 represented a major shock for the European Union (EU). A large member state opted to exit the EU, the first member state to do so and all actors feared a domino effect and EU disintegration. This is not materialize. The response of EU 27 was rapid, united and effective.
Speaker: Brigid Laffan | Date: 9 May 2022
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