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Memorandum of Understanding with the European Parliament

                         

                          Brigid Laffan Policy Dialogue EP 2016-2917

                                                

The European University (EUI) Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Parliament (EP) in 2014, where it committed to two dialogues with the European Parliament each year. The Schuman Centre was asked to organise these so-called ‘EUI-EP Policy Roundtables’.

In December 2014 a first policy dialogue roundtable was organised on ‘The Institutional Significance of 2014 in the European Union’ with the participation of Brigid Laffan, Director of the Schuman Centre, Professor Thomas Christiansen and Professor Diego Garzia. The same year the  European Citizen's Prize 2014 was also organised at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence in collaboration with the Information Office of the European Parliament in Italy.

In May 2015 an EUI-EP Policy Roundtable took place on ‘ Economic Governance in the EU’, with Pervenche Berès, European Parliament rapporteur on the review of the economic governance framework, Brigid Laffan and leading researchers in the area.

In December 2015 the focus was on ‘ Higher Education in the EU: stocktaking and challenges’, seeking to share experiences between the world of academia and the world of policymakers regarding higher education in the EU. The keynote address was given by Joseph Weiler, President of the European University Institute, and the panels included experts from the Institute and the European Parliament.

On 14 June 2016 the EUI-EP Policy Roundtable discussion was on ‘ Transformations In The Middle East And North Africa – The EU’s Response’ and focused on the current Syrian and Libyan conflicts, their impact on the neighbouring countries and the EU’s critical role in this scenario.

Another policy dialogue with the European Parliament took place on 21 June 2016 around ‘ Media Pluralism In the EU: Risks, Opportunities, Best Practices’, with the participation of Mairad McGuinness, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Professor Luigi Parcu, Director of the  Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom of the Schuman Centre.

The following EUI-EP Policy Roundtable took place on 7 November 2016 and focussed on ' Evidence and Analysis in EU Policy-Making: Concepts, Practice and Governance' with the participation of Ioan Mircea Paşcu, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Anthony Teasdale, Director-General, DG European Parliamentary Research Service, Wilhelm Lehman, EP Fellow at the Schuman Centre and Gaby Umbach, Visiting Fellow at the Global Governance Programme.

On 7 December 2016 the discussion was on ' The 1976 Electoral Act 40 Years On: History and significance for European democracy today', where MEP Jo Leinen, Co-Rapporteur on ‘The Reform of the Electoral Law of the European Union’, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, joined the debate from Brussels.

An ' EP-EUI History Roundtable' was organised on 'The Political Theory of and Economic Background to Economic and Monetary Union - 25 years after the signature of the Maastricht Treaty' was organised on 31 May 2017 with opening reamrks by Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso,Vice-President of the European Parliament. A  policy brief by Wilhelm Lehmann and Gaby Umbach was published, summarising the main outcome of the roundtable. 

A well-attended EUI-EP Policy Roundtable took place on 7 November 2017 to consider the ‘ Area of freedom, security and justice: untapped potential’. The event was organised to reflect on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs (LIBE) request to the European Parliamentary Research Service to produce a 'Cost of Non-Europe Report on the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice'. The discussion was recorded and is  available online.

 

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In 2019, as part of this partnership, the Schuman Centre hosted three fellows: Giancarlo Vilella and Marika Armanovica as EP Fellows and Myriam Goinard as Visiting Fellow from the European Parliament.

In terms of roundtables, in January a workshop was organised on ‘E-Democracy – Opportunities and Challenges’ by Giancarlo Vilella and Gaby Umbach with the participation of Vice-President of the European Parliament Fabio Massimo Castaldo. On 2 May during the State of the Union 2019 edition Myriam Goinard organised a side event on ‘Punching above its weight? European Parliament’s diplomacy in support of democracy in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood since 2014’. 

Page last updated on 27 April 2020

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