The State of the Union

2012 edition to take place on 9-10 May 2012

 

The 2012 edition of The State of the Union, organised by the European University Institute (EUI), is again hosted in the historic Salone dei Cinquecento of Palazzo Vecchio (Florence City Hall). The Conference takes place on 9 May, the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, and continues on 10 May. It aims at contributing to the analysis and debate of the European Union’s current situation, EU policies and the functioning of EU institutions and it brings together high-level policy-makers, leading academics and opinion leaders.

 

Day One - 9 May

The State of the Union Conference is opened by the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti and features the participation of the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso.

 

 

On 9 May there are two sessions: the first one, entitled “Economic Governance for Europe”, addresses questions on the European sovereign debt crisis and the current challenges of the Eurozone and Europe as a whole. The session is coordinated and introduced by EUI Professor Elena Carletti and among the confirmed speakers are: Edmond Alphandéry, Chairman of the Board, CNP Assurances, Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science at Berkeley University, Daniel Gros, Director, Centre of European Policy Studies, Harold James, Princeton University / EUI, Luca di Montezemolo, Chairman of Ferrari, Wolfgang Münchau, Associated Editor of the Financial Times, and Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. 

 

 

The second session, entitled “The EU and the New World”, concentrates on the challenges of globalisation and on the role of the EU as a global actor. The session is coordinated and introduced by EUI Professor Miguel Maduro  and it features the participation of: Joschka Fischer, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, Helga-Maria Schmid, Deputy Secretary General of the External Action Service, Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, Oleg Kharkhordin, Rector, European University at St. Petersburg,  Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University / Former Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State and Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics at Oxford University.

 

 

More information on Day 1 .

 

Day 2 - 10 May

On  10 May the Conference will be dedicated to assessing EU Energy Policy and will be structured in four sessions: “Achieving Internal Market”, “Mitigating Climate Change”, “Implementing Security of Supply” and “3 Energy Pillars or 3 Energy Policies?”.   

The first session "Achieving the Internal Market" will be devoted to the analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the EU Internal Market policy applied to the Energy sector. The session is chaired by Claude Mandil, Former Director, International Energy Agency and among the confirmed speakers are Philip Lowe, Director-General, European Commission - DG Energy, Inge Bernaerts, Head of Unit, European Commission - DG Energy, Fulvio Conti CEO, Enel,  Daniel Dobbeni, President, ENTSO-E and CEO Elia,  David Newbery, Professor at Cambridge University, Alberto Pototschnig,  Director, ACER, Pippo Ranci, Professor at Cattolica University and Paolo Scaroni, CEO, Eni. 

 

 

The second session is dedicated to Mitigating Climate Change and will be chaired by Denny Ellerman, Director, Climate Policy Research Unit (LdP/EUI). The confirmed speakers for this session are Jos Delbeke, Director-General, European Commission - DG Climate Action,  Carlo Carraro, Coordinator, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Programme in Venice, Carlos Battle, Professor at Comillas University, Ronnie Belmans, Professor at KULeuven, Karsten Neuhoff, Director, Climate Policy Initiative in Berlin, Jorge Vasconcelos, Chairman, NEWES. 

 

 

The third session is dedicated to Implementing Security of Supply and will be chaired by Leigh Hancher, Professor at Tilburg University. Confirmed speakers include Jean-Arnold Vinois, Acting Director, European Commission, Walter Boltz, Managing Director at E-Control and Vice President at CEER, Jeff Makholm, Senior Vice President, NERA,  Pierre Noël, Professor, University of Cambridge, Jacques de Jong, Senior Fellow CIEP and Helmut Schmitt von Sydow, University of Lausanne. 

 

 

The fourth session will assess the topic 3 Energy Pillars or 3 Energy Policies? with Rebecca Harms, Co-Chair of The Greens, European Parliament (tbc), and Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, Professor at Comillas University and MIT. While the final Roundtable chaired by Simon Wright, The Economist, will host Jo Leinen, Chair of Environment Committee, European Parliament, Simon Blakey, Special Envoy, Eurogas, Christian von Hirschhausen, Research Professor, DIW Berlin, as well as CEOs from leading Energy companies such as Fulvio Conti, CEO, Enel, Jürgen Groβmann, CEO, RWE, Gérard Mestrallet, CEO, Gaz de France-Suez (tbc), Paolo Scaroni, CEO, Eni, José Ignacio Sánchez Galán, CEO, Iberdrola (tbc)

 

 

 

More information on Day 2 .

 

Contact: Serena Burgisser , External Relations - Communications Service, +39 055 4685 378.

 

Information on the 2011 edition .