26.11.2020 - Mapping National and Regional Approaches to a More Coherent European Common Foreign and Security Policy: A Workshop

26 November 2020 (Tuesday)
10 – 12 am CET
Upon separate invitation only
The President of the “geopolitical” European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has stressed that Europe should have a stronger and more united voice in the world – and it needs to act fast. Divisions within Europe, which are being driven, among others, by political ideologies, national agendas, regional peculiarities, and differences of threat perception, however, present one of the main obstacles to a more coherent EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP).
If the EU aspires to play an active role in world affairs, member states should be more prone to compromise and to better harmonize their voices and actions. By mapping out the divergent national and regional approaches to the CFSP and to specific topics, we aspire to develop a better understanding of the current positions and to propose feasible paths for compromises and coalition-building between the EU member states towards a more coherent EU Common Foreign and Security policy.
In this workshop, we will begin mapping national and regional approaches, as well as introduce two specific topics: European strategic autonomy and the future the EU enlargement and neighbourhood policies.
The online event is interactive, with initial introductory interventions, related to national and regional approaches to the CFSP and with breakout groups session, where all participants are requested to contribute with short remarks.
Introductory interventions:
Tomas Valasek, Chairman, European Affairs Committee, National Council, Slovakia
Roderick Parkes, Head, the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies, DGAP, Germany (preliminary confirmation)
Mateo Bonomi, Research Fellow, Instituto Affari Internazionali Italy (TBC)
Stefan Lehne, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Europe, Brussels (confirmed)
The event is part of GLOBSEC GEOPE—Geopolitical Europe: Are the Member States Ready for It? Project supported by Jean Monnet Actions of the EU’s Erasmus+ program.