EU-CONSENT Workshop

EU Governance in Time of Crisis

Working Group on Constitutional and Institutional Change in the EU

Brussels, 7 May 2009

This EU-CONSENT workshop was organised by the European Institute of Public Administration and the University of Cologne as the concluding activity for the cross-cutting working group on ‘Constitutional and Institutional Change in the EU’. It aimed to bring together scholars and practitioners working in the field to discuss about the EU crisis management capacities, the impact of crises on EU institutional change and constitutional development, the current economic and external crises, and the state of the art on research. The welcome speech was given by EIPA’s Director General Marga Pröhl. The first panel, chaired by Thomas Christiansen, Associate Professor at EIPA, dealt with EU reform and governance capacities. Edward Best, Professor at EIPA, examined the impact of crises on the evolution of the integration process. Wolfgang Wessels, Professor at the University of Cologne, raised some questions on the concept of ‘crisis’ itself and gave some hints for future research on the topic. Mark Rhinard, Senior Researcher at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, overviewed the EU's crisis management and security capacities.

The second panel, chaired by Gaby Umbach, Senior Research Associate in the University of Cologne, focused on the financial and economic crisis. Richard Youngs, Research Director of FRIDE, looked into the political impact of the crisis on the relations within the European continent, on the international economy and on the CFSP. Fabian Zuleeg, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, examined the causes of the economic crisis and its consequences in terms of governance. Daniel Gros, Director of the Centre for European Studies, explained why it was not only an ‘American’, but also European, crisis, even though it was triggered by the sub-prime mortgages. Finally, Phedon Nicolaides, Professor at EIPA overviewed EU reaction to the crisis as regards immediate, medium-term and long-term measures.

The third and last panel was chaired by the Executive Vice President of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Gianni Bonvicini, and dealt with energy issues and crises in the neighbourhood. Graham Avery, Honorary Director General of the European Commission, analysed the capacity of the Eastern Partnership to deal with crises in the neighbourhood and the impact of the economic crisis on the enlargement of the EU. Simon Duke, Professor at EIPA, examined the conflict in Georgia, other ‘frozen conflicts’ (e.g. in Nagorno Karabakh, Osetia and Abkhazia), as well as new forms of crisis (like instability in Ukraine), and insisted on the need to also look to the neighbours of our neighbours. The Eastern partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean go already beyond the NP, but the EU has also to make an effort to explain better its interests to Russia and the United States. Maxime Lefebvre, Counsellor of the French Permanent Representation, reviewed the EU means and capacity to deal with crisis in the neighbourhood both in the first and second pillar, as well as EU relations with Russia. Finally, Jacques de Jong, Senior Fellow at the Clingendael International Energy Programme, focused on the common energy policy and the energy crisis in the neighbourhood.

Programme