The EU’s Capacity to Act in International Affairs: Where Do We Stand?

From 26 to 28 May, the Brussels School of Governance, along with a number of partner organisations, will organise the 7th edition of the bi-annual European Union in International Affairs (EUIA) conference. #EUIA21 will be organised online and provides a major forum for academics and policymakers to debate the role of the EU in the turbulent realm of international affairs. This year’s edition will focus on the theme ‘Assessing the EU’s Capacity to Act’. Topics such as migration, climate change, energy, human rights, defense and geopolitcs will be debated in depth.

Participation for journalists is free of charge. Journalists who wish to attend this online conference or want to request an interview, are kindly invited to send an e-mail to Jess Callebaut, [email protected].

#EUIA21 will feature more than 250 speakers, 50 academic panels and 3 high-level policy link panels. VUB Prof. Dr. Florian Trauner will act as #EUIA21 Conference Chair.

The keynote address (26 May, 2PM) will be held by Margrethe Vestager, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, who will speak about the EU’s capacity to act in crucial areas such as digitalization, international competition and artificial intelligence. Mrs Vestager will be introduced by VUB professor Karel De Gucht, former EU Trade Commissioner and currently President of the Brussels School of Governance.

Further highlights include the policy link panel (26 May) ‘Charm or Chasm – How Europe Can Deal with China’, which includes VUB’s Prof. Dr. Luis Simón as a panelist alongside senior representatives of the EEAS, NATO and Egmont Institute. In addition, the policy link panel (26 May) ‘The EU and the UN: Shared Challenges, Same Vision?’ gathers senior experts from the UN, the European Commission, United Nations University, ULB, and the ambassador of Slovenia for a high-level debate.

EU-Russian relations will be topic, with VUB researcher Laura Vansina as an expert in the panel. And VUB professor Alexander Mattelaer will chair the session on EU's strategy in geopolitics. 

For more information, visit www.euia.eu.

contact:

JURGEN SMET

Communications Officer BSOG

0476 40 80 16

[email protected]

[email protected]

The Brussels School of Governance

^{The Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) is the alliance of the Institute for European Studies (IES) and Vesalius College. The institution conducts interdisciplinary research, organises fully accredited higher education programmes and provides a wide range of academic services in many policy-related fields, including energy and environment, security and diplomacy, migration and diversity, and digitalisation and democracy. As a partnership between the IES (VUB), founded in 2001, and Vesalius College, created in 1986, the BSoG has more than 200 international staff members. By means of this alliance, one of the largest EU and global governance knowledge hubs in Europe is formed.}