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Sir Stephen Wall visited the European University Institute and the Historical Archives of the European Union

Posted on 21 June 2016

Sir Stephen Wall visited the European University Institute (EUI) on Thursday 9 June for the 10th Max Weber Fellows’ June Conference: Dimensions of Equality, Effectiveness and Efficiency – Past and Future. He gave the keynote lecture; Britain and the European Union: Lessons from a Small Island, where he looked at the role history and geography have played in shaping British attitudes, and the extent to which Britain has acted as both a brake and motor with regards EU policy-making. He also examined the future shape of the EU, with particular focus on the upcoming Brexit vote. 

Sir Stephen Wall also visited the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) at Villa Salviati. He was welcomed by the HAEU’s Director Dieter Schlenker and archivist Mary Carr and given a tour of the Archives with its various materials related to Great Britain and the EU. 

Among the documents presented were academic articles relating to Britain’s relationship with Europe from the private collections of Professor Helen Wallace and personal papers of Michael Tracy, former Director in the Secretariat of the EC Council. The papers of Uwe Kitzinger, an economics professor and former political counsellor to the first British Vice-President of the European Commission, were also presented. They include material relating to British entry to the EC, various articles by Kitzinger and a number of satirical cartoons. 

Sir Stephen Wall is a retired British diplomat with an extensive experience of working with the EU. After joining the Diplomatic Service in 1968 he worked closely with five British Foreign Secretaries. He was Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister to John Major, and EU Adviser to Tony Blair. He also served as British Ambassador to Portugal, 1993 – 1995. He was the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1995 - 2000, and Head of the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office from 2004 to 2005. 

 

Sir Stephen Wall’s Max Weber Lecture 

Consult the archival inventories of Helen Wallace, Michael Tracy and Uwe Kitzinger.

 

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