UNITED KINGDOM - UNIVERSITY OF MONTFORT - Ben PATTERSON
2018-01-22 - 2018-02-25
De Montfort University organized seminars and classes for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Followed by open debates. The day of Europe involved a meeting with local school children. Mr John Bowis, Mr Ben Patterson and Ms Doris Pack, former MEPs, participated in this programme.
Ben PATTERSON, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Report mission: EP TO CAMPUS VISIT TO DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY
Within ten minutes of my arrival at de Montfort, the clock went back over fifty years: I found myself sitting in the front row at a lecture on the mathematics of fiscal stabilisers. Was I −oh, Lord! – having to prepare for an economics exam again? And then I was up myself to answer questions on the subject.
Contacts between students studying a topic academically and those who have had to apply what they have learnt in the practical world are useful to both sides. The problems of the Euro Area in combing a centralised monetary policy with devolved fiscal policies were clearly relevant to the fiscal policy class; and also to the next one on monetary policy. Attending academic lectures can also remind ex-MEPs of fundamentals which may have been forgotten over the years.
I had, as requested by the Former Members Association office in Brussels, prepared a written paper on the history and problems of the Euro. But it was not needed. Unsurprisingly, the focus of all the discussions, and in particular the general question-and-answer sessions, was Brexit. What was going to happen if and when the UK left the EU? Doris Pack and I struggled to find satisfactory answers. Almost all the students and staff appeared to be Remainers, and it was difficult to deny that no arrangement outside the EU could possibly be as good as not leaving in the first place.
But then there was a bewildering array of options, ranging from EEA membership plus Customs Union (probably, in due course, leading to an EU return), to a cliff-edge crashout next year. It was necessary to explain that nearly everyone else, and almost certainly the UK government, were as much in the dark as we were.
The university had issued us with an envelope-full of vouchers for use in the various canteens on campus, which I mostly spent on coffee. But we were also entertained to two excellent dinners in town, after the first of which we went to the site of Richard III’s burial and saw something of the old, now partly pedestrianised city. The de Montfort campus itself extends over quite a large area; and if there is one complaint we had it is that the local taxis seemed at a loss when trying to drop us off at the right building.
My visit ended, as it had begun, with attendance at two classes on special policy fields, both under the supervision of Professor Alasdair Blair, the university’s Jean Monnet Professor of International Relations, and overall organiser of the event. The first was on the CAP, a subject that has been endlessly debated and reformed over the years. I was able to recall the days of butter mountains and wine lakes, and even, before that, of the UK’s expensive deficiency payments system. Now we have the Basic (formerly Single) Payment Scheme, based on how much land you own. What, we wondered, was coming next?
Finally, after a short session on the British political situation – a subject for three days’ discussion in itself – I headed off back down the M1 to London.

United Kingdom - De Montfort University - Doris PACK
2018-01-22 - 2018-02-25
De Montfort University organised seminars and courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students followed by open debates. On Europe Day there was a meeting with local schoolchildren. Mr John Bowis, Mr Ben Patterson and Mrs Doris Pack, former Members of the European Parliament, participated in this programme.
Doris PACK, FMA Member, participated in the event.

CYPRUS - UNIVERSITY OF LANCASHIRE - Barbara WEILER
2018-02-28 - 2018-03-02
The University of Lancashire organized a series of activities with students and a workshop, with the judiciary and academics.
Barbara WEILER, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: LECTURE AT UCLAN UNIVERSITY
Uclan – the University of Central Lancashire in Larnaca – provides a unique and innovative model of university education which is both Cypriot and British at the same time. There are close links with Europe through Jean Monnet modules and the Erasmus+ programme. Not surprisingly, many students and teachers are of international origin. It is quite possible that an island on the extreme geographical periphery of Europe may be the ideal place to conduct such an experiment, and I consider it a great success. There was an open atmosphere, with a willingness to engage in debate, and a high standard of innovative new approaches. Impressive!
On the first day, the main event was debates with students on the campus. Various lectures were given in the course of the day, all of them very well attended. The main subject was European social and employment policy, including Juncker’s European Pillar of Social Rights initiative; Parliament’s working methods and the possible consequences of Brexit were also mentioned. The students were committed and well prepared.
On the second day in Nicosia, a round table with national and international judges was the main event. It was opened by the President of Cyprus’s Supreme Court. The European Court of Justice was represented by judge Anna Marcoulli. Here too, similar subjects were discussed: how can socioeconomic rights be promoted and protected in the current financial crisis? In the ensuing debate, the students called for the European Courts (in Luxembourg and Strasbourg) to protect citizens against the pressures imposed by the ‘trio’ and for a different political course. It was a lively debate, in which conflicting opinions were expressed.
In addition to the official subjects on the programme, a topic repeatedly raised was relations between the EU and Turkey (and more specifically the naval blockade prompted by the gas dispute, which was taking place at that very time).
I took the opportunity to go for a short walk in the Turkish part of Nicosia. I had already once visited the city some 30 years ago, when the UN was everywhere and it was virtually impossible to visit the north. Since then, much has changed, but it seemed to me that distrust and prejudice persist. This makes it all the more important for the EU to support projects such as Erasmus+.
UCLAN students

CROATIA - UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB - Ignasi GUARDANS
2018-03-21 - 2018-03-23
The University of Zagreb organized guest lectures for students that are attending the course in Law of International Trade as well as guest lectures for the Bachelor Degree in Business Programme students that are attending the course in Commercial Law. Beside the lectures, the University organised an interview for the student’s newspaper and a meeting with faculty management.
Ignasi GUARDANS, FMA Member, participated in the event.

UKRAINE - UKRAINIAN ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS AND RESEARCHERS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION - Birgit DAIBER
2018-03-24 - 2018-03-28
The Ukrainian Association of Professors and Researchers of European Integration together with the National University of Kiev Taraz Schevchenko organised a conference entitled “European Integration Processes in the 21st Century: Key Trends, Main Challenges and New Perspectives”.
Birgit DAIBER, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: TARAS SHEVHENKO NATIONAL ACADEMY
The Kiev based Taras-SevchenkoUniversity in co-operation with Erasmus and their common Jean Monnet-Project organised a two days’ International conference on “European Integration Processes in 21st Century – Key Trends, main Challenges and new Perspectives” on 26/27 March. Speakers from universities of United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Poland and Italy have been invited. I have been invited on behalf of FMA. About 70 students, mainly involved in European Studies, took part in the first afternoon debate on March 26th. I was asked to give an introduction into history and relevance to the current situation of European integration. My first challenge was to find some examples avoiding the danger to be too shallow. I choose the following two: “EU’s international trade policy” was the first, followed by “the rule of European law and common values in democracy”. Since the students have been very aware of EU’s problems with Ukraine’s direct neighbour Poland, they asked many questions on the rule of European law, decision making processes and European understanding of democracy. I explained that one of the basic experiences in European Policy is to accept the necessity to compromise (even in one’s own political family). Here the students ask the grave question, hanging like a black cloud above all debates in Ukraine: How to find solutions for the war in East-Ukraine and for Crimea.
I couldn’t give an answer to this 1-Million-Euro question, but at least there has been no negative reaction when I mentioned that in the end there would be the need to find compromises. Another issue raised by the students was nationalism. Since EU-law rules above national law, the students felt inclined to ask if there is not the danger that citizens may loose their national identity? This led to discuss the principle of subsidiarity and the chance to develop a genuine European identity – not dominating national identity but changing it and adding a new dimension of common values and goals. The difference between national identity and aggressive or even violent nationalism was underlined. All in all the more than three hours discussion showed the deep desire of the students to become part of the European Union. At the international conference on 27th participated a lower number of Ukrainian students and more CEOs from EU related organisations and professors from universities.
The conference concentrated on different fields of European Politics, especially Environmental Policy, Law-making processes and questioning the Competence of Europe in actual conflicts. A specific part of the session was dedicated to the presentation of results of an inquiry in UK on letters in shaping the mass media before the referendum on Brexit. The inquiry shows 97% yes to Brexit in populist media while only 46% could be found in more neutral papers. Unfortunately this inquiry was carried only after the referendum. Two young researchers from the Ukrainian “Content Analysis Centre” gave a lecture on “the role of EU in the events highlighted by the major Ukrainian press”. My role in this part of the conference was to talk about the heavy storms which are threatening the Union since the outbreak of the Financial crisis in 2008. I referred to the refugee crisis, the deep internal conflicts with some member-countries not willing to accept European rule of law and the upcoming international trade conflicts proving so far the rather robust survival capacity of the Union. My closing remarks emphasized some aspects of new ideas actually developed by the EU-Commission and also by the French President Emanuel Macron.

ESTONIA - TALLINN TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY - Michael HINDLEY
2018-03-26 - 2018-03-27
The Tallinn Technology University planned an open high-profile lecture for university students and scholars, general public, local NGOs and possibly media.
Michael HINDLEY, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: COLD TALLINN
A cold Tallinn offered a warm welcome from my hosts when I visited Estonia’s lovely capital in March. Through the good offices of FMA, I was invited by the Tallinn University of Technology (TTU) to talk about EU foreign relations but also to discuss, with students and faculty, Brexit. My interlocutors clearly follow the debate on Brexit in the UK with attention; an attention tinged with concern about future relations between Estonia and UK under the auspices of EU Higher Educational Cooperation. Although the UK government has indicated a willingness to contribute financially to such programmes as a way of ensuring participation, the negative is that as in other spheres, UK will be “taking and not making rules”. The UK has been a major influence on the shaping of ERASMUS and research cooperation and its knowledge and experience would be missed. Students worry that study in UK could become more difficult and staff are concerned that recruitment from UK as well as their chances of posts in the UK could become problematic.
I also gave a lecture on China’s ambitious “Belt and Road” programme to Masters students of International Relations.
Ostensibly, this is a giant infrastructure plan, initially based on the revival the old Silk Road, from China, through Central Asia and on into the Middle East and Europe. As such it conjures up romantic nostalgia for bygone days of explorers and traders, East to West, and West to East. However, it is also much to do with Sino/Russian rivalry for national energy resources in Central Asia. Additionally, China is worried that though the Coastal strip of China is booming, there is little evidence of a “trickle down” effect to the distant inland provinces. Lastly and not least, China now has massive over-capacity in steel, coal and cement; just the basic materials for a vast transport infrastructure programme envisaged in “Belt and Road.”
My hosts kindly arranged to visit some of Tallinn’s much lauded e-centres, TTU own innovation
Estonia has invested much energy, resources in new technology and the results are truly impressive. I well remember taking a portable typewriter for my Strasbourg and Brussels offices in 1984, only for the typewriters to become quickly redundant. Now you can get an entire communications system on your smart phone. When I expressed my own scepticism about cyber-security I was met with optimism. Estonia has suffered and still fears cyber-attack from Russia, but the participants in the e-centres enthusiastically pointed out that research and development into cyber-security was in itself a motor for economic activity.
Membership of the EU has been taken up with gusto in this small Baltic nation. It was refreshing to see such optimism in Estonia.

BULGARIA - AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BULGARIA - Ivailo KALFIN
2018-03-29 - 2018-04-01
The American University of Bulgaria organized an event that had as its main theme a ‘Model EU Simulation on EU digital market issue’. The event provided the students guidance about the work of the European Parliament and the adoption of EU legislation on EU digital market issues/working of EU/future of EU.
Ivailo KALFIN, FMA Member, participated in this event.

SPAIN - UNIVERSITY OF DEUSTO - Monica FRASSONI
2018-04-17 - 2018-04-19
The University of Deusto organized some lectures on Economic, legal and institutional legitimacy of the EU projects, public integrity, efficiency. The attendees were university students (Law, International Relations, Economics, Labour Relations…), University lecturers, researchers and civil society representatives.
Monica FRASSONI, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: VISITING DEUSTO
On April 18/19 I was invited to a two days series of lessons and meetings at the university of Deusto in Bilbao. Already the setting of this very prestigious university, founded by the Gesuite order in 1886 and located in front of the magnificent Guggenheim museum is an enough inspiring experience. But I was very positively impressed by the intense programme, which allowed me to deal with different issues, (environment and climate change, the future of the EU, its institutional balance and functioning, the role of lobbies, professional opportunities for young students and and young professionals …). Also the audience was quite diverse in age, interests and nationalities, as Erasmus students were involved in one of the lessons. They were obviously well prepared and the programme had been well thought through, in order to match with both their interests and my competences. Among the most interested and informed were the youngest high school students, eager to learn and well prepared on specific questions.
I also had the chance to give an open conference in the newly built library on the future challenges facing the EU and I found this opportunity
worthwhile as we should give our host the chance of “exploit”our presence to the maximum. I also had a great contact with the two main organisers of the visit, professor Maria Luisa Sanchez-Barrueco and Professor Laura Gomez Urquijo. Prof. Barrueco coordinates the Jean Monnet programme SAPIA (Student Awareness of public integrity and Accountability in the EU) and she seeks through innovating teaching methods to make students aware of the importance of democratic control of EU institutions. Professor Urquijo heads the Jean Monnet module EUCLAP ( EU legal and economic integration for people) and she focuses on how positive economic and legal EU integration can enhance wellbeing and prosperity for EU citizens. I also met the Dean and the deputy dean of the University, Mrs Gema Tomas and Marta Enciso.
I was by the way quite amused and glad to note that all my interlocutors and hosts were female academics and that the Bilbao Chapter of the European Law student union took part to the definition of the program. Furthermore, coming from a country, Italy, which is going through a real thunderstorm in terms of public perception of the role and
importance of the EU, I found refreshing and uplifting the very positive attitude, if not the real passion, that some students and the host professors expressed for the EU project, as well as for the need of an active involvement of young generations and academia in ensuring not only its survival in these difficult times, but also its further development and the strengthening of its capacity to work together and deliver results for its citizens. Among the most frequently asked questions were the possibility of access to a “European”professional and study career, which common policies could be implemented on jobs and climate change and how to ensure that member states and EU institutions are able to show more cohesion in delivering common economic, migration and foreign policies.
All in all, I enjoyed this experience very much: it is really fruitful both for us and for our interlocutors.
I therefore thank the organisers for the invitation and encourage my colleagues to take part to these events.
Monica FRASSONI during her intervention

ROMANIA - BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - Robert EVANS
2018-04-24 - 2018-04-26
The Babes-Bolyai University planned an event called: “The EU Foreign Policy and the Global Politics of Human Rights” which aimed at enhancing BA and MA students in International Relations a knowledge in EU’s involvement within the global politics of Human Rights.
Robert EVANS, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: COUNT DRACULA AND THE EU FOREIGN POLICY
A trip to Transylvania in the Spring might send waves of fear through followers of Bram Stoker, but Cluj in Romania is a delightful place and Count Dracula nowhere to be seen, although one of his saying could not be more appropriate; “We learn of great things by little experiences.” My “little experience” was to represent former MEPS at the University of Babes-Bolyai in Romania’s third city, Cluj-Napoca. Cluj could not have been more delightful and my hosts, Alin, Mihela and Natalia could hardly have been more welcoming.
As an MEP, I served on the joint parliamentary committee for relations between the European Parliament and the Romanian Parliament for many years. Accession to the EU came in 2007 and I was proud to welcome many friends and colleagues as new Romanian MEPs. Returning to Romania after a break of several years and the changes are stark; the improvements obvious. With many signs showing support from the EU’s Regio fund it’s clear that the country has moved into the twenty first century.
Cluj itself has a proud Hungarian and Romanian history – reflected in the university being named after a celebrated Romanian biologist and a Hungarian mathematician, the two original universities having merged in 1959. Babes-Bolyai University has 40000 students and runs courses in several languages in addition to Romanian.
The subject of the two-day discussions for which I was the guest speaker was, ‘The EU Foreign Policy and the Global Politics of Human Rights’. My opening contribution was to first year under graduates on the role of the European Parliament and facing up to the challenge of migration. How the EU addresses the migratory pressures on its borders is one of the most important issues today.
Later my ‘key-note speech’ looked at the way the EUs international role has developed since the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. Whilst the establishment of the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy may have given new focus, far from a united response to international crises, to many the EU has stood by. This seems as true for the Russian interventions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine to the desperate situation in Syria and Palestine; the EU has appeared impotent, not knowing what to do or say.
On the positive side, the Union has been a force of strength in promoting global democracy by its emphasis on election observation and equally attaching human rights clauses to new trade initiatives. “We are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all stronger together,” to quote Count Dracula again.
A workshop on possible career opportunities in the EU institutions was demanding yet thought provoking. The talented and enthusiastic students from Babes-Bolyai have much to offer to Romanian MEPs and their government. Many questions were asked about the UK’s current and future position within the EU, post Brexit. Was the UK always destined to leave the EU or was the referendum campaign just a disaster? Will David Cameron go down as the most arrogant and incompetent British prime minister in history?
Will the UK live to regret its decision very soon?
After two very packed and eventful days it was time to say “la revedere” to all my new friends in Cluj. I’m sure I won’t be the last former MEP to visit Transylvania and I thoroughly recommend it!
Robert Evans with students

HUNGARY - UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED - Herbert BOESCH
2018-05-01 - 2018-05-04
The event is part of a series (Integration Club) organised by the University of Szeged in relation to European integration for students (undergraduate and graduate), university staff, high school students, young graduates, press and interested public.
You can find a presentation of the project here.
Herbert Bösch, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: SZEGED WAS WORTH A VISIT
Admittedly it isn’t easy to get to Szeged. If you go by plane, you land in Budapest, over 200km from Szeged, and if you take the train, the journey from Lake Constance can take some 15 hours. But it’s worth it: a beautiful city with a touch of Mediterranean flair and a neat and tidy centre with lots of space for walking and cycling and time to enjoy yourself. And students from across the globe.
Right at the start there was an interview with two young ladies from northern Germany, office apprentices who were spending a month in Szeged as exchange students. Asked why they had chosen that particular place, their response was refreshingly simple: they wanted to see a part of the EU which was less well known in their own country. They said they were charmed by the city and the people.
There followed a discussion in the university’s ‘integration club’ with young people from across the whole of Europe, with questions which were a million miles from the everyday trivia of the European institutions. Defending and improving human rights, perspectives for EU enlargement, and freedom to travel and settle abroad were among the issues raised. As expected, the role of the Hungarian government in the EU was also discussed, as was the increasing isolation from the 27 other Member States which the country might face as a result. Participants were unanimous in their view that the EU should place the common values set out in the Treaties above the selfish national interests of individual Member States in the forthcoming negotiations on the future financing of the EU. These values were also stressed in the context of migrants seeking in the EU a safe place from discrimination and persecution.
The following day we discussed the limits of European integration and the enlargement potential of the EU. The lecture took place in the Faculty of Law of the University of Szeged. Students from third countries – in particular from the Balkans – voiced their hopes that the EU would increase its efforts to ensure enlargement takes place.
At the moment it seems the EU is giving the impression of being overly concerned with itself and its internal conflicts. And we were reminded that the last major enlargement was in some ways still being digested and that there should be an internal consolidation of the EU before any further enlargement. An initiative such as the European Convention might give some impetus both to deepening the EU and to increasing its capacity for enlargement. Expectations in this regard fall on the European Parliament. I have a particular memory of two young women from Serbia and Kosovo who asked what they could do to help their countries join the EU…
It is to the credit of the ‘EP to Campus’ programme that events are also held away from national capitals. This is an important difference from most EU events organised by the in-country offices of Parliament and the Commission. It may be that the atmosphere in a university town at Hungary’s southern (EU) border is very different from that of the capital, for cultural and geographical reasons.
And it was clear that our young interlocutors really appreciated having a (former) Member of the EP to represent Europe rather than ‘Brussels bureaucracy’.

SLOVENIA - UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA - Per GAHRTON
2018-05-06 - 2018-05-10
The University of Ljubljana organised a lecture for BA students in the introduction to policy analysis led by prof Damjan Lajh, meetings with student associations and participation in the Europe Week round table on EU’s environmental policy.
Per GAHRTON, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: SLOVENIA – DRIFTING TOWARDS POPULISM?
In mid-May I visited Ljubljana on assignment for the European Parliament’s former Members’ Association. The idyllic calm of the cafés along the Ljubljanica river was overwhelming – but perhaps deceptive. My visit coincided with the run-up to a snap election on 3 June: the third since 2011 and the ninth general election since the break-up of Yugoslavia. There have also been 20 referendums on everything from EU and NATO membership to the legislation on archiving, same-sex marriage and railway building. Was it wishful thinking, then, when a major Swedish newspaper referred to the country as “Friendly little Slovenia” (Svenska Dagbladet, 15 July 2011)? When I took part in a panel debate on EU environmental policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, I came across an opinion that is often heard in Scandinavia: the EU is needed in order to tackle cross-border environmental issues, but the action it takes is too weak. I cited Wikipedia, which commends the EU for the Paris Agreement, but Panel of Speakers at the event of the University of Ljubljana notes that the EU’s leadership role in the area of environmental policy has been weakened. A briefing note drafted by the European Parliament’s research service lists the social dimension, migration, security and defence as issues that are being discussed with an eye to the future of the EU post-Brexit, but the environment is not mentioned (The Future of Europe – Contours of the current debate, European Parliamentary Research Service, April 2018, PE 620.202).
I found Uroš Vajgl’s contribution particularly interesting. Mr Vajgl, who has represented Slovenia in COREPER, the EU’s ‘secret centre of power’, maintained that the EU devotes less effort to environmental issues than it does to employment, for example. At lunch with Mr Vajgl and others after the debate, I was struck by their criticism of commercialism and general left-wing attitudes. Were these representative of the Slovenian people? According to The New York Times, the election on 3 June ‘tilted another European country to the right’. And it’s true that a right-wing populist party won with 25% of the vote, but a new centre-left group, Marjan Šarec’s list, came second, and the social democrats came third.
Despite the weak position that the Greens are in, I was asked to give a lecture based on my book, Green parties, Green future (Plutobooks, 2015). As a thank-you, a member of the audience gave me a book entitled The Slovenian Greens: From early success to long-time failure (Danica Fink-Hafner, Matej Knep and Meta Novak, Faculty of Social Sciences, 2015). Later on I showed the book to Igor Juriši ć, leader of Slovenia’s Green Party (Stranka Mladih), and his response was: ‘I haven’t got round to reading it yet, but unfortunately the title is spot on!’ In 1990, Slovenia’s Greens garnered 8.8% of the vote, 8 seats in Parliament and 5 ministers. In 2018, however, they didn’t manage to field any candidates under their own party name, cooperating instead with Marjan Šarec’s list. Fink-Hafner, Knep and Novak cite two main reasons for the Greens’ decline: first, it had been a mistake to go into government with such a new, weak party, and second, there had been too much sectarianism and factionalism, and too many defections. Slovenia is a good reminder that it is important for small parties to be very careful in choosing the right time to have a go at being in government. It also shows that the curse of sectarianism must be kept in check.
Our Slovenian hosts told us that it simply wasn’t done to visit Slovenia without going to Lake Bled, so my wife and I duly went there. To prepare, I read a French novel about a couple who visit the beauty spot. The blurb on the back promises ‘glimpses of a relationship which, despite the lovers’ good intentions, is doomed to fail’ (Clément Bénech, L’été slovène, 2013). I hope the novel isn’t predicting the downfall of ‘friendly little Slovenia’, but shows, rather, that the country’s future is in the hands of decent democrats after all.

TURKEY - IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS - Gyula HEGYI
2018-05-07 - 2018-05-09
The event had as its main theme ‘The EU’s Environmental/Energy Policy: Achievements, Challenges and Implications for EU-Turkey-Relations’. Gyula HEGYI, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: MEETING YOUNG AND PROGRESSIVE TURKS IN IZMIR
Izmir is a beautiful city situated along the Aegean Sea, with 4 million inhabitants. This progressive-minded city has six universities, and I was invited to the Izmir University of Economics (IUE). IUE is a private university with around 7500 students. My host was Assist. Prof. Dr. Alexander Bürgin, Head of EURAC, who has been awarded a Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission in August 2015. (A Jean Monnet Chair is a title assigned to university professors with a specialization in European Union studies, including financial support for three years.)
I participated three different panels with 20-20 minute’s introductions, and I also tried to answer the many questions of the smart and well informed students. The first topic was The Promotion of Environmental Standards in the EU external relations. I mentioned that EU has some of the world’s highest environmental standards. The EU’s goal is to promote these standards and global sustainable development to their trade partners. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change is especially crucial for us, and the EU is driving force of its implementation.
However I also mentioned that in practice there are some contradictions as well, and in some cases the Third Countries have higher environmental standards. A student immediately mentioned the example of the natural heritage on which the Turkish regulations are tougher than ours.
The second topic was Making Cities Sustainable: Achievments and the Changes in the EU and Turkey. In Turkey cities accommodate over 75% of the country’s population, and the sustainable urban development is crucial for the fast-growing urban population. I spoke about the importance of public transport, clean air, renewable energies, green public procurement, heat waves and other issues. I also mentioned my own EP report on the thematic strategy on the urban environment. Following my interventions the other panelist, Mr Ümit Sahin from the Sabunci University Istanbul mentioned that the GDP growths in Turkey is mostly based on construction, and it is far from being an environmentally sustainable activity. He, as a green activist, gave a detailed picture on the environmental problems of Turkey, harshly opposing a project of a Russian-built nuclear power station. As it normally happens, some students were against the nuclear energy, others had more tolerant approach to it. It was interesting to hear that one student even traveled to Chernobyl as a tourist to see the spot.
The third topic was The Rise of Nationalism and Populism in the EU. Due to the political situation I refrained from criticizing the Turkish government but I spoke a lot about the nationalist and illiberal tendencies in Hungary and Poland. The students were rather well informed on the problems of these two countries. But I also underlined that to criticize the “Brussels” doesn’t mean automatically euroscepticism, and the integration to the Common Europe shouldn’t endanger our own national cultures. We had a lively debate on the Hungarian-Turkish relations and the exact meaning of the “nationalism”. Some students came from the EU countries, which also show the good reputation of the IUE. Professor Bürgin closed all the three sessions with useful conclusions. His whole course on European studies goes in English and we have to keep contact with this progressive university.
It has been really heart-warming to meet these talented, skilled young students, who share our values in Turkey. Let’s hope that they overcome the troubles of their rich and brave country!

GERMANY - UNIVERSITAT FLENSBURG - Robert GOEBBELS
2018-05-14 - 2018-05-17
The Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF) organized a three days event, which were divided into interdisciplinary round table discussions and workshops on different European Studies related topics, the award ceremony of the Europe Prize of the university, as well as interactive student initiatives all over the campus.
Robert GOEBBELS, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: THE RIGHT TO SECESSION DOES NOT EXIST
During my visit to the European University of Flensburg, I took part in a colloquium on the right of peoples to self-determination.
The organisers had invited representatives from Catalonia to defend that rich Spanish province’s independence aspirations.
One of the underlying issues in the debate was a complaint regarding the European Union: why had the EU institutions failed to support Catalonian separatists?
My response went down like a lead balloon. How can the European Union support independence movements when the preamble to the Treaty on European Union sets out that the Member States are ‘resolved to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’?
Article 50 of the Treaty provides that ‘any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with own constitutional requirements’. The United Kingdom is currently going through that bitter experience.
But the Treaty does not in any way suggest that part of a Member State has the right to withdraw or dissociate from the Union by means of ‘self-determination’. If a Member State needs to ‘reorganise’, it can only do so by following the country’s constitutional requirements.
The Scottish independence referendum was authorised by the UK Parliament. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia into two countries
– the Czech Republic and Slovakia
– took place in a context of political upheaval in Europe.
The European Union must defend the integrity of all its Member States. It cannot push for their disintegration.
All the more so in the Catalonian case, as the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled that the Catalonian Government could not unilaterally declare Catalonian independence. Catalonians have their own culture and their own language, but neither is under threat. Under the Spanish Constitution, the Catalonians have more than enough means to defend their identity. The Catalonians are not oppressed or being subjected to a dictatorship. Their dream of independence can only come true if they negotiate with Spain’s central powers. What is more, the electorate’s opinion has been shown on a number of occasions to be completely divided regarding independence: almost half of Catalonians want to remain Spanish. The famous right to self-determination is a dangerous fantasy which could aggravate regional self-interest. More often than not, independence movements are mostly driven by the desire not to share their region’s ‘riches’ with their fellow citizens from other regions, whom they label as lazy. Italy’s Lega Nord, Flemish parties in Belgium and many others have taken that stance.
The fact that the UN Charter makes no reference to the right of peoples to self-determination is a perfect illustration of the fact that it is a fantasy. The United Nations calls for the ‘sovereign equality’ of all states. The Charter stipulates that no provisions in it ‘authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state’.
It was not until after decolonisation began that a resolution, from 1952, referred to the ‘right of peoples to self-determination’. But once a new state has been formed, the United Nations has always refused to allow unilateral secessions, as we saw in the attempts by Katanga and Biafra to declare their independence.

FRANCE - UNIVERSITY CLERMONT AUVERGNE - Paulo CASACA
2018-06-17 - 2018-06-20
The University organized a round table and conference entitled “Models and Policies for Climate and Energy in Europe”. The conference was addressed to scientific international experts.
Paulo CASACA, FMA Member, participated in this event.
Mission report: MODELLING DEVELOPMENT
Some ideas
Following the Rio summit as well as several subsequent international initiatives, we are now engaged in the ‘Sustainable Development Goals 2030’ (SDG) exercise comprising 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators (as 2017, but still growing).
We consider this as a more coherent inspiration for development modelling then the ‘climate change’ monomania, which is so often restricted to atmospheric emissions, energy and money metrics. Consequently, we proposed a set of changes we think could enhance considerably the efficiency of the exercise.
The first change is to finally integrate the positive value of both natural and constructed environment conservation (and therefore the negative value of its destruction implied in development expenditure). This implies switching from a ‘sustainable’ to an ‘integrated’ developmental vision. Money metrics can be used here so as to evaluate material realisations (such as infrastructures) not directly measured by the market.
The second is to “dejargonise” model-making processes. The decay of the language used in international institutions has worsened and reflects
the progressive alienation from reality of the actors involved. Pleonastic, inconsistent and metaphysical constructions have been one manifestation. The promotion of a set of simplistic publicity messages to the general public does not help the main objective of connecting the model to reality. An assessment and evaluation framework of the designed SDG, controlled by actors fully independent from those directly linked to the main international institutions which produced the plan in the first place, is central.
The third is to integrate essential human values such as freedom and the capacity to influence public policy, which are at least as precious as material progress itself. This will clash with the existing state majority within the UN, among whom the popularity of freedom and democracy is decreasing. Democratic nations might have to work here on their own.
Modelling professionals must ensure that their efforts are not transformed into a window-dressing mechanism aimed at hiding relevant facts. Modelling must be fully transparent on its assumptions, clear in its functioning and frank about its uncertainties. Development actors shall avoid being slaves of communication strategies based on quick ‘emotional shots’ which so often and so severely skew reality while producing no good outcomes in the long-run.
Whereas the mobilisation of civil society on all its forms is essential to achieve results, the adequate use of public financial means for the agreed targets is the most crucial element. The priority must be to promote fundamental and applied research as well as development, dissemination and application of new solutions, instead of consuming resources ineffectually on bureaucratic workouts which are difficult to define and assess.

ITALY - LUISS GUIDO CARLI UNIVERSITY - Ivailo KALFIN
2018-07-19 - 2018-07-20
LUISS Guido Carli University organized a round table entitled “The role of parliaments in front of the Internet challenges in the XXIst century: digital democracy and privacy concerns “. It was part of the 7th edition of the Summer Program-Jean Monnet Module on “Parliamentary democracy in Europe”. This year the course was devoted to “Parliamentary Accountability and New Technologies: Transparency, Privacy a nd Security Challenges” and took place on 9-20 July 2018. Ivailo KALFIN, FMA Member, participated in these events.
“I believe we should reconsider the political systems in the democratic societies. And this can be made in a way to ripe the fruits of the digital advancement for further imposing and boosting democracy.” By Ivailo KALFIN Key note speech to
The Summer Program
School of Government
LUISS University, Rome
20th July, 2018
Everybody presents themselves to elections. At school, at the university, for an elected body or simply for attracting someone’s interest – we constantly face competitions. And elections are about communication. We first identify the potential supporters, make sure that these that have already decided in our favor are not lost meanwhile and then focus mainly on the so called swing voters – these who make up their mind for each separate vote. This is done through the communications channels. Actually this is where new technologies have the most visible impact. In the last years the new technologies changed dramatically the communication channels and hence – the way candidates and elected representatives connect with the citizens. Internet based technologies became a powerful engine of change in the media environment. Traditional politicians are faced with a reform or dye dilemma.
For 22 active years in politics, I presented myself 8 times to general elections – for national and European parliaments and for president. I have been working as elected representative and member of government and I have lived through the enormous change in the way to make politics. New realities happen so rapidly, that most of the people even do not realize the span of the change. But when you look back, the enormous shift happening within few years in the way to make politics is obvious. Back in 1994 the political rallies were a norm. People wanted to see the candidates and the elected representatives, to ask them questions, to criticize them. Citizens were feeling part of a community, they were participating in politics. Now, 25 years later, political rallies are replaced by the social media. Of course there still are people who would prefer to physically attend a political event. But most of the younger ones communicate through the social media. In fact media and social media in particular increased their weight as intermediaries. Digital media are not just another communication channel. They practically influence the content and the perception of the information. Digital media become an important player in political communication.
Digital media change both the form and the content of making politics. The changes in the form are easier to see. Nowadays election campaigns are heavily relying on digital media. But they have their particularities. They reach much more people but the access to a large amount of information makes the users very selective. To be noticed, a political message needs to be simple, short and bold. Political parties still campaign on the basis of complex election platforms. But who reads that? An efficient campaign targets the potential voters according to the individual recipient’s interests. Hence, the efficiency of a campaign is dependent on the technique used to match each potential voter with the most appropriate message. This makes the success of political campaigns not based on commitments but rather a function of the efficiency of the techniques, software and other instruments used in it. Instead of meeting voters and confronting platforms, the campaigns now turn to be a competition of digital media experts and tools.
A second major change in the form of making politics is the fact that digital media as a rule are rich media. They allow a two way communication. The traditional media are informative and they transfer the messages from the politicians to the voters while the digital ones provide the possibility to receive a reaction to the message and even to enter in a dialogue. That is a tremendous change. The very possibility that a citizen could send a message that would be seen by the politician, makes people feel closer to the decision makers. That change of distance alters the entire paradigm of relations between voters and elected representatives. In general the decrease of the distance and the possibility to be aggressive anonymously to politicians undermine the institutional respect.
A third difference in the form of making politics is that the elected representatives have a much better possibility to interact with the citizens between the elections. Maintaining profiles in different social media enables them to inform the public about their positions on current issues. This is a great opportunity if used properly and a challenge if politicians just try to please the public all the time and avoid arguing for unpopular decisions.
A fourth change digital media bring in politics is the increased transparency. Or the possibility for transparency. If used, that can be a very strong tool in politics. A good example is the practice of the European Parliament. All plenary sessions and committee meetings are streamlined. Anyone interested could find all the necessary information related to a particular file. Of course, there is a room to go even further – disclosing all the documents for the trialogues or the famous four column document as well as shedding more light on the meetings with lobbyists. But still, the European Parliament is far ahead compared to many national parliaments. More transparency as a constant goal is healthy. It cancels the TV effect that I have seen many times in the national parliament. When TV is broadcasting, members strangely change – they deliver long and emotional speeches, fight, attack the opponents. The moment when cameras are switched off – they just loose interest in the debate. This wouldn’t happen if cameras are always on.
Some researchers like Griffin argue that new media do not differ much from the traditional ones as people make rational choices. They are still a channel for communications. This is correct. But as we see, the use of internet and the other new technologies make the media an important player in the political process to the extent that they are able to change the entire mechanism of making politics.
There is another very important characteristic of the new media – their atomization. Today an individual profile in a social platform or a blog are media per se – they produce news and participate in shaping the public opinion. That is a game changer in the communications world. Now media are much more accessible, far reaching and much less subject to regulation or even to the observation of some elementary journalistic standards. The effect of atomization of media on politics is that the latter become much more reactive, the door for fake news and disinformation is widely open and the information environment tends to become chaotic.
All these changes brought by the digital media impact profoundly the form of making politics. They also create a very favorable soil for new players and processes in the political life. To summarize – within two decades the digital media provide the reach to a much wider audience, the successful political messages become short and catchy, the large public without any particular reason feels more competent to directly make politics, politicians have to be 24/7 available, no matter the time of campaigns, the increased influence of the social media goes together with lowering the standards for media content. All these provide an excellent opportunity for newcomers in politics. In fact they gain strength by the fact that people see the current politics too elementary and the new players can make an impressive appearance by competing not with political ideas but with technologies and techniques for using the digital environment. The result is very obvious – in a number of European countries we see newcomers or much strengthened formerly marginalized parties on the political stage. Many of them are populist and nationalist. And they keep gaining ground. Why? To me the answer lies in three pillars: the feeling of insecurity among the large public, created by the inability of the mainstream parties to face the economic crises and later – the crisis with migrants, the very simple, even simplistic messages by the populists, usually blaming someone outside for the national problems and the chaotic digital media environment where expert analysis and pragmatism leave way to disinformation and catchy worrying titles. No matter whether their messages lead to real solutions. Closing national borders doesn’t solve the migration problem, especially for the Southern EU members. Increasing the national capacity for fiscal policy is incompatible with the single currency. But these sound easy and natural solutions, mobilizing the society against the external threat. That weakens the EU and subsequently weakens its member states. I wouldn’t duel further into the perspectives of nationalism here but history shows that it either is tamed by the political mainstream or leads to wars.
As we witness, the rapid expansion of digital technologies is deeply affecting not only the form and the procedures of politics but also their content. Political messages get down to short title-like texts. The expert analysis is a point of reference to much less people. The revolt against current inabilities of these in power spreads much faster and supports mostly destructive initiatives. The traditional political parties and institutions are losing ground vis-à-vis simplistic and sometimes aggressive politicians. The public is more sensitive and less compromising to political mistakes or mismanagement. In the quest for survival traditional, mainstream political parties tend to drift to more extreme positions, abandoning a centrist and consensus based behavior. This is clearly seen not only in countries like Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy, where the ruling parties already demonstrate this trend but also practically in all EU member states where such ideas can be increasingly seen in internal politics and it is a matter of time to be adopted as political stands of the governments and parliamentary majorities. The external pressure coming from the reviving strength of Russia and the aggressive US President’s policy towards the EU is another factor for possible tectonic changes in Europe.
It would be exaggerated to argue that the new technologies are the ones provoking these changes, but at the same time it would be short sighted not to see that they undermine the traditional way of making politics and open the way for more populism and lower solidarity in the society. Ironically the easy access to a large amount of information puts the individuals into a situation of a higher uncertainty, doubt and lack of trust. We witness that external centers of power make use of this effect to promote controlled results from elections. The story with the personal data leaks from Facebook and their use by the defunct Cambridge Analytica to model election results is just an example of what we can expect.
Is it possible to retain politics in the EU away from the risky waters of populism and nationalism? My answer is affirmative. I will not speak here about the need to reconsider the way mainstream politics are carried out. The raise of populism should shake the current political establishment. It needs to realize that mismanagement and excessive self confidence that were demonstrated in the first phases of the migrants’ crisis, and earlier – the economic crisis have a price. And this price stands due even after the peak of the crisis and when the Union started looking for better solutions, aligning the interests. I would rather focus on two proposals how to use the digital media to improve the way politics are made and perceived.
The first proposal is to dramatically enhance the use of digital technologies to make politics more understandable, transparent and closer to the citizens. I have already mentioned the IT related initiatives of the European Parliament. They are a good example for many national parliaments but they just show the direction. The more disclosure, the more systemized information, the most interactive IT tools, the more you create a community of engaged citizens. I would give a positive example from my own experience. Working on the pension reform as a member of government, I had two options – to try to impose in parliament and explain the reform that was obvious for the experts. That would provoke massive discontent as usually happens with this type of reforms but even worse – a sense of insecurity that could be further magnified by the diversity of opinions in the internet. I choose the other option – I started a public debate about the existing pension system and parameters. People didn’t like it – for various reasons, often specific for every particular groups. But this discussion allowed to open the door to discuss the reform. I made the proposals, prepared by the experts but declared them a needed martyr text – just a basis for discussion. Then we had an extensive period of debates with the social partners and the other stakeholders and with the public – online. Finally we got a kind of agreement and the changes were voted in parliament. So, we promoted a better understanding of the effects of the reform and avoided the public opposition and discontent. The key to me here was the very open and transparent approach, attracting a community of stakeholders to be part of the process. Later the Ministry’s PR and media department received a high award by the media community for successful political communication.
Indeed, it is very difficult to squeeze politics into simple messages. Still this is possible. For example when saying that the EU budget costs one coffee a day to the citizens, or Jeffrey Sach’es comparison saying that extinguishing malaria costs a cup of Starbucks coffee for the citizens, or the fact that the EU administration is twice smaller that the one of Bulgaria for example and costs much less than the one in any member state – these are messages easy to understand and retain. This can be done. But the policy makers need to understand that changing the way politics are done is also a pertinent task. There is no genius that can decently explain why the obscure procedure for the adoption of the EU multiannual budget in the European Council is still maintained. Hence, the proper use of the digital media cannot compensate the need to rethink the content and the procedures of making politics and to make them more efficient, just and understandable.
My second proposal is much more forward reaching. I believe we should reconsider the political systems in the democratic societies. And this can be made in a way to ripe the fruits of the digital advancement for further imposing and boosting democracy.
To better explain this proposal, I would make reference to the view of Yuval Hariri, expressed in his recent book Homo Deus. He argues that with the development of technologies, the real infrastructure would go digital, the artificial intelligence would take better and more efficient decisions and the humans could be compared to biological algorithms using data for further perfection. That is a clearly utopic vision for the future. But we could see indeed some elements that can dramatically rationalize politics, further asserting their constructive role.
If we want to reverse the trend of increasing the gap between the citizens and the political elite as a result of the abundance and diversity of information, increased insecurity, decreased credibility of political figures, aggressive populism, then we need to do everything to increase the confidence and make as much as possible for citizens to be involved in a constructive and informed debate. In fact the digital technologies offer such tools.
We have to change the political systems towards a better mix between representative and direct democracy. This is the road to make citizens involved in a constructive debate and decision making. A way to do this is elaborated in a project on enhancing political contracts and mandates, carried out by the young Bulgarian futurologist Dr Mariana Todorova. Internet can create communities mandating representatives to accomplish particular tasks. A member of parliament should not be elected on the basis of their or their party’s election platform only. Life is much more dynamic. Elected representatives need to implement concrete assignments and mandates by their electorate. The right to recall a representative should be strengthened and made a real instrument, while preserving the stability of the institutions. Mandating representatives to accomplish concrete tasks could be introduced as a practice not only in elected bodies but also for various community priorities. This is the direction the supporters of the so called liquid democracy would like to see developments. Political decision making should be brought closer to the citizens involving them in a meaningful debate. They have to become part of the decision making. If this mix between direct and representative democracy is enhanced, then referenda would not be an exceptional event, subject to external pressure and disinformation. Citizens’ involvement would be part of the everyday political practice. Elected representatives will have to discuss with the citizens the political decisions and be more bound to their perceptions. Instruments as the EU Citizens’ Initiative have to be strengthened and it should be much more possible for citizens to put an issue to debate in the representative bodies.
The digital technologies provide great possibilities to further democratize politics. Elections, referenda, public consultations and debates can be very cheap and flexible online. There is a splendid possibility that technologies are used for good purposes creating more solidarity. Indeed they pose a challenge to the political leadership as good politicians are sometimes required not to follow but to lead the public opinion. But I am confident that democratizing politics will squeeze the room for politicians – followers and give more opportunities to demonstrate leadership.
Let us hope that our societies will be able to grasp the possibilities offered by the technologies and use them to make politics more efficient, constructive and trustful.
Thank you for your attention!

FRANCE - UNIVERSITY OF LILLE - Jean-Marie BEAUPUY
2018-09-09 - 2018-09-10
The University of Lille organized an opening conference with the students of the Master of Urbanism and Planning, presentation and discussion related to urban and regional development of EU. Jean-Marie BEAUPUY, FMA Member, participated in that event.

BRAZIL - FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF MINAS GERAIS - Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA
2018-10-17 - 2018-10-19
The Federal University of Minas Gerais; Faculty of Milton Campos; Pontific Catholic University and Dom Helder Camara Law School organized a conference entitled “International and European Security and the foreign relationship with South America” to discuss about understanding the perspectives surrounding the current geopolitical and legal configuration of the relations between the European Union and South America within the framework of the security policy adopted by international instruments reflecting the common positions adopted by both regions. Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA, FMA Member, participated in these events.
Mission report: LOOKING AT WORLD PEACE FROM LATIN-AMERICA
The “EP to Campus Program” has facilitated my participation in an international seminar on “Foreign Policy, Security and Strategy: Relations between South America and Europe” at the Law School of the Federal University of Minas Geráis in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the State of Minas Geráis, Brazil, on the 18th and 19th October 2018.
In the context of the visit to Brazil I was also invited to deliver a lecture on the European Union Law on Refugees at the “Dom Helder School of Law”, a private university center in Belo Horizonte, and to meet with students and faculty of the Master´s degree in international law at the Law School of the Federal University in order to discuss the relations between the European Union and Latin America.
Three years ago, in 2015, I had already taken part in a similar joint program of the “EP to Campus Program” with the Federal University of Minas Geráis and the University of Itaúna, a private institution in the neighborhood of Belo Horizonte.
At the time of my first visit, the opposition parties had begun to take measures intended to impeach the president of the Republic, Dilma Rousseff, a member of the “PT”, the left-leaning labor party led by former president Luis Ignacio “Lula” da Silva. Shortly before my second visit to Belo Horizonte, the Brazilian courts of justice had prevented Lula from running again for the presidency of the country. Michel Temer, the successor of Rousseff in the presidency of the Republic, and one of the plotters who brought her down, was indicted for corruption charges while I was in Brazil in the month of October. My recent visit to Belo Horizonte took place in the interval between the first and second rounds of the presidential, congressional, regional and municipal elections. The second round should have taken place on the 29th of October after this article has been sent for printing. Thus, readers cannot expect to find fresh news on the electoral process when this article will be published. Opinion polls forecast a success for the extreme right wing candidate for the presidency, Jair Bolsonaro, a retired army captain.
Opinion polls also indicate that Lula´s PT will continue to be the largest political group in Congress and will keep a good number of city halls and State governorships. The electoral campaign was at its climax, while a small group of European and Latin American professors were discussing peace and security in the sedate atmosphere of the academic world. Latin America enjoys a privileged position in the international scene as an area of peace and common security. The relative instability of several domestic political systems in Latin American and the dominant position of the US in the American continent as a whole, does not prevent the Latin Americans from playing their cards judiciously in the international arena. One reason for this relatively peaceful international situation may lie in the fact that the Latin America governments are not exposed to the same levels of pressure on peace and security issues to which the European States are now being exposed due to the aggressive tone of Russian foreign policy, the ever present threat of Islamic terroris and the intensification of the migratory movements on its external borders. I pointed out this anomaly in my report in the panel on “The European Common and Security Policy and World Geopolitics”. Other participants in this panel were professors from Portugal (Isabel Cabrita), Uruguay (Diego Escuder), and Brazil (Flavianne Bolzan de Morais). Due to limitations of space, I cannot include in this short article the entire list of participants and the particular issues discussed in each panel. The Seminar covered the whole spectrum of issues concerning peace and security, including migrations, terrorism and the threats to the environment. I found particularly interesting the report by Prof. Enzo Cannizzaro, from the University of La Sapienza in Rome, on the contentious issue of “The responsibility to protect”. Before taking the plane to Brazil I had apprehensions about the situation I could find as the country was involved in an electoral process that had heightened the levels of political confrontation and economic uncertainty. In fact, during the few days that I spent in Belo Horizonte, the “Real” was devalued and the shares in the stock exchange fell accordingly, while political violence and street criminality continued at a high level. In this context, many young Brazilians are now looking forward to the professional chances that Europe may offer to them in order to improve their professional and vital expectations. Due to the fact that many Brazilians are descendants of Europeans who migrated recently to the new continent, they are entitled to acquire the citizenship of one or the other of the EU Members. The number of applications for the acquisition of the Portuguese citizenship submitted to the Portuguese Consulate in Sao Paulo was so high that the Government was forced to cancel the acceptance of new applications in that Consulate until next year.
The solution to the problems of unemployment and living conditions in Latin America cannot be found in accepting as legal immigrants all those wanting to come to this part of the world, especially when the anti-European political parties are using the arrival of immigrants to Europe as a rallying banner against European integration. On the other hand, since Christopher Columbus discovered five hundred years ago that there were new lands in the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America has received hundreds of thousands of European immigrants. In a globalized social, political and economic system, isolation is not the solution to the problems of poverty and inequality. We need to cooperate more closely with Latin America. The European Union should look forward to ways to establish new world-wide arrangements that may help to solve our problems and those of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
In this context, we should be aware that Brazil, and the whole of Latin America, is endowed with a competent, hard working and well prepared new generation of university students and professors that have received education in our universities and research centers, and are thus prepared to work with us in order to find solutions to our common problems in a world which has shrunk considerably as a consequence of the technological revolution that permits a broadbased exchange of knowledge across the borders of the nation-States, old and new.

UKRAINE - UKRAINIAN ASSOCIATION OF EUROPEAN STUDIES - Paulo CASACA
2018-10-25 - 2018-10-27
The Ukrainian European Studies Association organized the participation of Paulo CASACA, FMA Member, to take part and deliver a report at the Jean Monnet Conference “Access of Ukraine to the EU Digital Single Market” and a public lecture at the Poltava Technical University to academics, experts and students interested in EU-Ukraine relations and on the EU Digital Strategy Paper.

UNITED STATES - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN EU CENTER (EUC) - Robert EVANS
2018-11-05 - 2018-11-10
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign EU Center (EUC) organized two major events: “17th Annual EU Day”, a celebration of transatlantic relations and strives to promote a better understanding between the peoples of the US and the EU also featuring a roundtable discussion on the EU; “Researching and Teaching the EU: Best Practices and Current Trends in EU Scholarship — A Working Conference”, an annual conference that brings together college faculty with the aim of increasing research on and teaching of the EU at universities and four-year and two-year colleges in Illinois and the American Midwest.
Robert EVANS, FMA member, participated in these events. There can’t be many universities anywhere in the world, with their own airport. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one such institution. Situated some 220 km south of Chicago, the university is one of the largest public colleges in the USA with nearly 50, 000 students. The sprawling, yet modern campus seems to engulf just about the whole of two small towns, Urbana and Champaign in addition to being home to a very successful EU funded Jean Monnet institute.
It was their invitation, to attend the institute’s twentieth anniversary conference, on behalf of former MEPs, that saw me land, late one cold November evening at their own, modest but convenient airport!
After a long trip via Dallas, some 1500 km to the south – I have never understood why it is cheaper to take two flights and fly over your eventual destination hours before you reach there – I was met at the airport by Sebnem Ozkan, the centre’s associate director and one of my excellent hosts.
The University of Illinois is the only American University to offer a Masters course in European Studies and it was a real pleasure to talk with Dr Neil Vander Most, Professor Kostas Kourtikakis and their engaging and well informed students. Questions covered a whole range of issues including the history of the EU, but not surprisingly, invariably came back to Brexit and why the British people voted to leave a successful union of 28 countries.
As part of their anniversary celebrations, the EU’s ambassador the United States, his excellency David O’Sullivan delivered a thought-provoking speech on ‘the State of the European Union’. In the ensuing roundtable there were plenty of questions about the evolving state of EU-US relations. As the conference coincided with the inconclusive American mid-term elections, there were plenty of opportunities for comparisons and thoughts about the forthcoming European Parliament elections in 2019. These and other issues were also discussed when I was a studio guest for an interview with the local radio station, Illinois Public Media.
My keynote speech on Saturday morning included my own personal thoughts on Brexit and how the then prime minister David Cameron badly mis-judged, both the mood of the country and his own popularity. After eight years of austerity, the lack-lustre ‘remain campaign’ gave the British people a rare chance to object to the EU and register a complaint anything else they fancied or didn’t fancy. There were obvious comparisons with Americans’ objections to President Trump but also warnings for other EU countries who fail to face head-on, the concerns of the voters. From the unrest in France to the rise of fringe or ‘populist parties’, the EU can be the catalyst for negative voting.
After a hectic four days, I left Illinois for London to be present at the commemorations for the end of the first world war. Twenty million people died in the ‘war to end all wars’ which only preceded another brutal conflict just twenty years later. An awful testament to what happens when Europe is not united. Fortunately today’s liberal politicians and keen voters have more sense then our forefathers … I hope.
My sincere thanks to Professor Carla Santos and all at the University of Illinois for an excellent and stimulating few days and to the Former Members Association for their organisation.

GERMANY - GEORG-AUGUST UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN - Michael HINDLEY
2018-11-26 - 2018-11-29
The Georg-August University of Göttingen organized a talk with Michael HINDLEY, FMA Member, on the topic of Law and Policy-making in the EU and the conequences of BREXIT for the EU and Great Britiain. The programm at the university included lectures and follow-up discussions and debates with students.
Mission report: CAN THE EU SURVIVE BREXIT?
I was extremely pleased to receive a second invitation to the Euroculture Centre at the University of Göttingen which I first visited in November 2016. I suggested an update on my last year’s title ‘Can the EU survive Brexit?’ Not simply an example of English ‘tongue-in-cheek’ humour, but a warning that Brexit is not only an existential question for the UK, but also one for the EU.
Certainly the mood among the Masters Students in the three seminars I participated in was puzzlement and sadness about the UK leaving. There was some anxiety among a couple of UK students about their future status and questions from other EU students about their potential status post Brexit.
My last year’s visit coincided with the news that Donald Trump had won the Presidential race in the USA. That news was met by the same sadness and puzzlement as the Brexit decision.
This year’s visit came in the wake of the German general election which saw a sharp decline in the popularity of the two major parties (CDU/ CSU and SPD) and the rise of the anti-EU nationalists, AfD. The fate
A group of students from the Georg-August-University
of Chancellor Angela Merkel, widely seen as a stabilising force in the EU, has become an anxious question. We are entering an increasingly uncertain period. The eastern EU states are increasingly sceptical, even hostile to EU policy made in Brussels; witness the widening resentment against EU asylum policy.
‘Europe’ is increasingly seen as the problem for nation states, not the solution to national problems – a point the ‘More Europe’ advocates from Brussels fail to grasp.
The gap in perceptions of ‘Europe’ looms large. In my experience of young people, like the students I met in Göttingen and others I have met at
home and on FMA guest lectureships don’t share this pessimism. So many of them have benefited from European wide programmes, they travel with ease and confidence. They are prepared to rise to the challenge of competition and opportunity offered by the EU.
However, doubts remain and indeed grow as to whether the EU is there for the benefit of all and not just for the quick, mobile, talented elite. Serious work ahead for the EU which demands less self-congratulatory propaganda and more applied reasoned persuasion.

CZECH REPUBLIC - MENDEL EUROPEAN CENTRE BRNO - Mariela BAEVA
2018-12-02 - 2018-12-04
For the European week and Mendel European Centre in Brno Mariela BAEVA participated in lectures and discussions with students at the beginning of December 2018. The main topics was BREXIT, migration issues and the EU institutions.
Mission report: MEETING WITH THE YOUNG GENERATION
For a number of years now, I have committed to the EP to Campus Programme largely due to its main objective to continue delivering expertise that builds up the students’ knowledge capital.
The process enjoys reciprocity – as guest speakers, we benefit from the analytical approach and critical thinking of the young generation. This December, I focused on EU Migration Insights 2017 and the role of the EP in the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The first lecture shed light on the unprecedented global movement of people. We discussed migrant integration public policies of the MSs. We also approached migration from the perspective of identity and populism. I briefly commented on the reform of the Dublin system and the EU return policy.
As concerns over migration and identity are central to European politics, we devoted generous time to discuss two surveys covering two opposite aspects.
One of the surveys belongs to the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as
Chatham House. It is designed to probe the attitudes in the EU towards the perceived effects of migration, the refugee crisis and how it has been managed since 2015. The specific issue of Islam in European societies is also in the focus of the survey.
The second survey is produced by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), based in Vienna, and it throws light on the experiences of Muslim refugees and their children born in EU MSs.
We could make two general conclusions:
• Populist movements will continue to find resonance among the public when they seek to amplify such concerns into a broader opposition towards the EU. So, wide-ranging strategies will be necessary to engage more authoritarian-minded voters and to re-frame debates about migration in such a way as to reduce perceptions of a cultural or identity threat.
• Over the longer term, the leadership of the EU institutions, civil society and business will need to invest efforts in attempting to change
attitudes. A source of optimism, however, is stemming from the EU’s advantages compared to those of other parts of the globe – not only that some of the EU MSs economies are among the most competitive in the world, but they also enjoy some of the most equal societies. The challenge for the EU is to utilize these strengths and to build on the historic achievements of integration.
To bring the international group of around 60 students closer together, I threw light on the refugee solidarity concert series Give a Home that took place in cities all over the world last September. The English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran joined, too, a lineup of 1,000 artists performing at the places of their music fans in support for the cause of the refugees.
The second topic concerning The Role of the EP in the UK’s withdrawal from the EU provoked many questions under the mantra ‘Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’. We discussed in detail the citizens’ rights, Good Friday Agreement and single financial settlement. We had a brainstorming session based on the public opinion in the post-Brexit era. Our Friday session had its peak: a small creative project. Students from Syria, Ghana, Croatia, Ukraine, Czech Republic and I came together to call for empathy in a song titled Race to Freedom, dedicated to 18 December, International Migrants Day and 20 June, World Refugee Day.

TURKEY - IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS - Jens-Peter BONDE
2018-12-03 - 2018-12-05
A former MEP was invited to participate in a course on the history of the EU institutions at Izmir University of Economics in December 2018. The broader topic of the event is governance in the EU.
Jens-Peter BONDE, FMA Member, participated in the event.

NETHERLANDS - MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY - Edit HERCZOG
2018-12-05 - 2018-12-07
Maastricht University invites a former MEP to attend an event on the topic “Value-less Data: Legal, Ethical, Economic and Technological Lessons for a Robust Data Economy”. This values-centric symposium aims to bring together experts from data science, ethics, economics and law to create a White Paper establishing basic principles for the use of data in the data economy.
The event was attended by our member Edit HERCZOG. The program document determined the narrative of the conference:
„As humanity becomes increasingly data dependable, it is necessary to make sure that the data it stands on reflect the values inherent to a fair, ethical, and economically sound society. … Data in itself is devoid of any value; it’s the way in which data is selected and used that can dictate how machine learning and other systems that feed on data, operate in economic, moral, or ethical terms. The question then arises: how can the systems and devices that use data in the data economy obtain economically, morally and ethically robust data?”
The conference started with the presentation of prof. Andres Guadamuz from Sussex University, who challenged the participants to differentiate artificial intelligence and man-made art and music. The audience had dificulties to see the differences between the two and it was a practical and efficient way to showcase the challenge of future IPR regulation.
The trust session highlighted the risks and benefits of using data for commerce and health sectors, not only for primary beneficiaries but also for the ecosystem around them. The morality and ethics panel had a wide scope, including the impact of data economy on the human rights in the future. A keynote was given by professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders on the „The intersection of intellectual property and data in the United Nations’ World Economic and Social Survey 2018”. It was a very inspiring account on how to deal with Risks and Benefits.
Economic value of data has a huge potential value for all sectors. This an opportunity we should be taking advantage of, but that should be regulated. Especially for data intensive sectors, regulation is a prerequisite to reduce uncertainties. It was a pleasure to be in the final panel with four talented students (Gaia Lisi; Eisa Rahimi; Virginia Debernardi; Bert Brookfield-Hird), with Prof Guadamuz and prof Ana Ramalho to discuss the issues from different perspectives. We agreed that Data is a new sector where regulation must happen fast, to enable European enterprises and citizens to harness the benefits.
However, legislation alone will not solve it. Due to human biases, datasets and data-analysis carried out by humans will resemble these biases. This is always an issue, but AI technologies amplify any bias and if they are not corrected in due time, it will have severe implications on the technology. Thus, certain issues have to be addressed at the expert level. We also discussed the global race. As a law-maker, I highlighted that while the EU might be lagging behind China, and the US on R&D spending, the EU is a strong exporter of legislation. The EU has been at the forefront of addressing legal issues, and has not been afraid to set standards high for companies. For example, the GDPR is an exemplar for other countries and regions in the world, while companies also praise it, notwithstanding the complexity of adopting it.
Bert concluded “The possible uses for data are constantly expanding and seemingly endless. However, great care must be taken to avoid the potentially huge benefits that data can bring to our society from being outweighed by the consequences. We must try to avoid this. Interdisciplinary events such as the value-less data symposium are key to ensure this and also so that we understand the issues before we legislate on them.”

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Giotto Ulivi- Niccolò RINALDI
2019-01-16 - 2019-01-25
The Historical Archives developed a programme for high schools focused on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change and the institutional reform of the EU. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meetings with the students from Giotto Ulivi were attended by our member Niccolò RINALDI.

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Giotto Ulivi- Luciana CASTELLINA
2019-01-16 - 2019-01-25
The Historical Archives developed a programme for high schools focused on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change and the institutional reform of the EU. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meetings with the students from Giotto Ulivi were attended by our member Luciana CASTELLINA.

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Giotto Ulivi- Oreste ROSSI
2019-01-16 - 2019-01-25
The Historical Archives developed a programme for high schools focused on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change and the institutional reform of the EU. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meetings with the students from Giotto Ulivi were attended by our member Oreste Rossi. I participated for the first time in one of the events organised by the European University Institute of Florence in collaboration with the Former Members’ Association and was impressed both by the level of the Institute and by the reaction of the secondary school students who attended.
The session was divided into three parts: The first part focused on information on the ‘Europe System’, during which I and a competent Institute official took the floor to address European issues, and I spoke about my personal experience as a Member of the European Parliament. The young people were pleased to get involved and asked some very pertinent questions; The second part, in which the young people, split into three groups, pretended to identify themselves with political parties and to submit a draft legislative initiative; The third part, in which the young people presented the result of their work and we commented on it together.The topics were of general and social interest:
1) EU citizenship and schools;
2) climate change, the environment and energy, and
3) the institutional reform of the European Union.
In my introductory statement, I took a moment to explain the differences between the various European institutions: the Commission, Parliament, Council, Court of Justice of the European Union, Council of the European Union, President of the Commission, President of Parliament, President of the Council and President of the Council of the European Union. I noted that there was a lack of knowledge of the various institutions and their powers. I believe that Member States should include topics relating to the European Union on school curricula as from secondary school level. This is vital in order to educate young people properly. I commend initiatives like this which are useful both to us politicians, to remedy our numerous communication errors, and to young people, who need to open themselves up to the range of opportunities offered to them by a Europe of peoples and cultures.

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Giotto Ulivi- Monica BALDI
2019-01-16 - 2019-01-25
The Historical Archives developed a programme for high schools focused on three main themes: European citizenship and school, climate change and the institutional reform of the EU. Numerous meetings were held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meetings with the students from Giotto Ulivi were attended by our member Monica BALDI.

ITALY - SECONDARY SCHOOLS EUI - Lycée Français Victor Hugo- Jean-Paul DENANOT
2019-01-27 - 2019-01-28
The Historical Archives have developed a programme for high schools focused on: The free movement of persons and the dynamics and memories of mobility in the EU. Numerous meetings will be held in the prestigious Villa Salviati in Florence to discuss these highly topical issues.
The meeting was attended by our member Jean-Paul DENANOT.
Read his article here.

Welcomed by the management of the European University Institute of Archives in Florence, I made two speeches, one in front of students from the Victor Hugo High School who were participating in a com- petition on Europe and the next day in front of the think tank “Thoughts of Europe” made up of researchers and who are making a great effort to explain how the EU works in the perspective of the next European elections. With the students, after having presented the functioning of the European institutions and particularly that of the parliament, I had a great moment of exchanges with the students and their teachers. The questions were mainly related to the themes of the competition in which they participated: European democracy, energy and climate, institutions, etc.
In groups, they presented me with the results of their re ections and I had to comment on them. Obviously what interests young people most is their future, the Europe they are hoping for and its ability to offer an area of peace, freedom and solidarity with a particular focus on the issue of immigration, which concerns young people, particularly in Italy, with the arrival of a new government that refuses access to migrant boats but also the Dublin agreements, which are very critical in their eyes. Everything that allows exchanges between young Europeans is plebiscite and in particular the Erasmus+ programme; on the climate energy issue, exchanges are less consensual with the question of the energy mix and the choices between nuclear and fossil fuels: the consensus is however on renewable energies and energy savings.

All the students are concerned about global warming, which they have understood is not a myth and the fear of climate immigration after humanitarian action is real; on the question of democracy in Europe, they consider that it is the European Parliament that is the most legitimate and that it is necessary to make citizens aware of the European elections – which I have been careful not to deny!
Exchanges that are particularly interesting and well prepared by the teaching team. With the researchers of the think tank, it was the institutional issues that formed the common thread of the exchange: I had chosen to introduce the debate with the budgetary question by explaining the dif culties of conducting more and more numerous and desired policies without new budgetary resources independent of the states: the Monti Commission was of course raised with the question of a federal Europe or the addition of states, and with the students the day before the question of the exercise of democracy in the Union was raised with the particular role of parliament in the run-up to the elections by universal suffrage.

“Thoughts of Europe” is concerned about the lack of communication with citizens despite the efforts of the institutions, which are in-suf ciently covered by the media. It intends to make its contribution for the next few deadlines, which deserves to be highlighted and encouraged.

INDIA - MANGALORE UNIVERSITY - Michael HINDLEY
2019-02-03 - 2019-02-08
The EP to Campus programme cooperated with Mangalore University. Michael Hindley was invited to India to speak present his views on important developments/ issues of European Union followed by discussion. The topic was related to relations with developing countries/India; global governance; contemporary developments in EU; security (EU and global conflict)/Cultural aspects.
The talks was attended for our member Michael HINDLEY. Here below you can find his article published on June 2019 FMA Bulletin. I have had a long a happy relationship with India and was absolutely delighted when invited to be guest lecturer for the FMA at the University of Mangalore in Southern India. Mangalore, on the coast of the state of Karnataka is certainly not on the tourist itinerary but given the beauty of its temples, mosques and nearby hill country it certainly should be. Beyond tourist attractions Mangalore has the perhaps un-expected status as being amongst the 50 most “liveable” cities in the world in terms of quality of life and as such the highest rated Indian city.
More impressively Mangalore rates 12th world city in terms of health care. The University campus is in a leafy suburb has also an outreach centre in Chikka Aluvara. I gave lectures in both and was greeted with typical Indian courtesy and intellectual curiosity. The University also has a city centre University College, where I also gave a lecture, which offers evening MAs courses for professional who wish to increase their qualifications. This fulfils one of my own educational commitments and that is “life-long learning”.
In addition I also gave a guest lecturer at the University of Manipal, one of the mo st modern state of the art educational centres I have seen anywhere in the world. One of the most attractive features of intellectual life in India is the politeness of the exchanges. There is seldom the feeling of trying to show how clever the questioner is. There is a sheer enjoyment of engagement without any inhibitions about disagreement. I also spoke to the local Chamber of Commerce and given the many commercial links which exists between India and the UK much concern was expressed about the effects of Brexit.
Concern was also expressed also about EU/India relations. I have been acting as adviser to the European Economic and Social Committee on a report on the Commissions “EU/Asia Connectivity” ideas which frankly give scant regard to the sheer complexity of “Asia”. India is a difficult partner for the EU, not least because its size gives it some counterbalance to the EU in bargaining power. “Europe” remains mainly a geographical concept, not a political one. Audiences certainly know the major member states of the EU but the extent to which modern Europe is integrated within the EU remains only vaguely appreciated.
My personal host, Professor Amin, was a fund of information about India and arranged some wonderful sight-seeing excursions to temples, mosques and the nearly hill stations in the Coorg region famous for its spices, exotically flavoured wines and coffees. The multicultural character of India is staggering – and the facilities of Indians to use English as a lingua franca, plus their mother tongue, plus a local language is quite amazing. For those who rightly celebrate the diversity of Europe, my advice is go to India, to put our diversity into global perspective.

MOROCCO - INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY RABAT - Per GAHRTON
2019-02-11 - 2019-02-14
The International University in Rabat invited a former member to a conference in Morocco. The main theme of the event was on current EU policies with a focus on migration and human rights. The speaker gave lectures on International Migration and Human Rights in the Mediterranean as well as EU policies and the European- Mediterranean relations.
The Conference was attended by our member Per GAHRTON. You can find here below his article published on the June 2019 FMA Bulletin. Morocco is unquestionably a country of strategic significance to the EU in many respects. That is particularly true with regard to migration, which was one reason why the Université Internationale in Rabat wished to have an EU speaker at its conference on ‘International Migration and Human Rights in the Mediterranean’ on 14 February. As the person chosen under the FMA’s Campus programme to take on this role, I tried to outline the EU’s current policies on migration and human rights. Coming from Sweden, it was also natural for me to mention the crisis in 2015, when Sweden accepted 170 000 asylumseekers, as against the normal figure of 30,000 – 40,000, while other EU countries closed their borders, built walls and in addition torpedoed the European Commission’s proposal for an equitable distribution of refugees. I observed that cooperation between EU and MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) countries was important in order to deal with migration in a humanitarian manner and in accordance with international law. At the same time, I was aware that cooperation between the EU and Morocco is by no means uncomplicated. On 12 February, while I was in Morocco, the European Parliament approved by 415 votes to 189, with 49 abstentions, a fisheries agreement with Morocco which was also intended to apply to fisheries off Western Sahara, even though the Court of Justice of the EU had ruled that an EU agreement with Morocco must not apply to Western Sahara. The decision was welcomed wholeheartedly in the Moroccan media and I was asked whether it should not be interpreted as a de facto recognition that Western Sahara belonged to Morocco. But on the European Commission’s website (12 February) it was stated that the agreement did not constitute a recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara. On the other hand, it was stressed that Morocco was obliged to report to the EU that the agreement, under which the EU was to pay Morocco EUR 160 million over four years, was benefitting Western Sahara economically.
With regard to Sweden, Al-Adath Al-Maghribiya stated that Sweden had supported the Polisario Front previously, but had backtracked, and representatives of Sweden’s Foreign Ministry now absolutely denied that there was any plan to recognise the Sahrawi Republic.
So what is the true state of affairs? Is not the whole EU in the process of backtracking from its united position on the UN’s demand for a referendum on the status of Western Sahara? Where Sweden is concerned, many people suspect that a deal has been done: two Swedish governments, one conservative and the other red-green, have disregarded the Swedish Parliament’s decision of 2012 to recognise the Sahrawi Republic, while Morocco has entered into cooperation with Sweden to take back the hundreds of Moroccan street children who suddenly turned up in Stockholm a year or two ago.
And when, despite the clear ruling delivered by the Court of Justice to the effect that no agreement between the EU and Morocco should apply to Western Sahara, the European Parliament nonetheless approved a fisheries agreement that covered that territory, did not that constitute a first step towards a retreat from the UN position? It is to be hoped that the talks recently initiated under the auspices of the UN will result in a peaceful solution. Perhaps not a sovereign Western Saharan state. But at least a separate, autonomous region, maybe like Scotland. And in some kind of union with Morocco. First, however, the referendum which was decided upon and which was supposed to have been held nearly 30 years ago, must be carried out.
Obviously there are serious practical problems attached to this, including that of deciding who should have the right to vote in it. But it is hard to imagine any solution being acceptable to all parties if it has not been supported in a referendum. This is a question of respect for international law and for the UN’s role in peace-making. And that is something for which the EU bears a huge amount of responsibility.
