At the first of three outreach events held in 2019 two thematic workshop sessions based on the topics of the two research groups kick-started the day. Two panels debating the future of Europe complemented the event.
The Dahrendorf Forum’s fourth research cycle ‘The Future of Europe: Strategic Options for an Era of Uncertainties’ seeks to assess the multifarious challenges currently being faced by Europe, including Brexit, societal change, and the rise of populist movements, and to make practical recommendations on how governments and policymakers might constructively address these issues going forward.
PROGRAMME
13:30 – 13:45 Welcome
13:45 – 15:00 Workshop 1 – What next for the reform of the eurozone?
The eurozone has undergone a series of reforms over the last few years, yet the consensus is that there is still unfinished business. The panel will discuss the various proposals for further reform and assess their chances for being adopted. Questions will include: Can a banking union be completed rapidly, or is the reluctance of creditor countries to embrace risk sharing an insurmountable obstacle? Will a new stabilisation mechanism be acceptable to the ‘Hanseatics’? Have fiscal and other macroeconomic rules become too complicated and politically too difficult to implement to be effective? How useful will it be to expand the mandate of the European Stability Mechanism? Can France and Germany be expected to find compromise on eurozone governance?
Chair: Kevin Featherstone, Co-Chair of the Dahrendorf Forum working group on the future of European governance, institutions, and policy, Director of the Hellenic Observatory, and Professor of European Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Panelists:
Cinzia Alcidi, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Economic Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels
Iain Begg, Academic Co-Director of the Dahrendorf Forum and Professorial Research Fellow, European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Mark Hallerberg, Professor of Public Management and Political Economy at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Ludger Schuknecht, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris
15:15 – 16:30 Workshop 2 – Escaping the paradox of globalization, liberal democracy, and national cohesion
Lord Ralf Dahrendorf and Dani Rodrik have pointed to a fundamental challenge of modern societies: the incompatibility of reconciling economic globalisation, liberal democracy, and national sovereignty and cohesion. While both the Dahrendorf Quandary and Rodrik’s Trilemma have received recognition and attention in recent years, surprisingly little systematic endeavor has been made to dissect how both have unfolded across countries and time. This panel illuminates this blind spot by examining the empirical foundations of Dahrendorf’s and Rodrik’s propositions and their implications. It furthermore discusses the typology of policy responses that European and other countries have enacted in order to deal with the difficult tasks of maintaining cohesion and democracy in an era of increased globalisation.
Chair: Andrea Römmele, Co-Chair of the Dahrendorf Forum working group on society, populism, and electoral trends and Professor for Communication in Politics and Civil Society at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Panelists:
Helmut K. Anheier, Academic Co-Director of the Dahrendorf Forum and Professor of Sociology at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Marco Buti, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission in Brussels
Silvia Merler, Head of Research at Algebris Policy & Research Forum in London
Andrés Ortega, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Elcano Institute in Madrid
17:15 – 18:30 Panel 1 – European Security in 2030: How Technology matters – A scenario debate
The experts involved in this research cycle’s Dahrendorf Foresight Project have identified technological progress as one of the key driving forces that might endanger the future of European security over the next decade. This panel will feature a debate between cybersecurity experts and two authors of a scenario which describes the vision of a financial crash and, consequently, growing risks of cybercrime in Europe in 2030. Panelists will discuss how developments in the scenario unfolded and debate the following questions: To what extent, and under which circumstances, will technological change have as severe security implications as shown in the scenario? How can European states recapture the technological agenda and prepare themselves for socio-economic fallout of technological disruptions? What does the European Union have at stake in all this?
Moderator: Declan Curry, Writer, Broadcaster, Journalist and Public Speaker
Introduction:
Monika Sus, Dahrendorf Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Marcel Hadeed, Dahrendorf Research Associate at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Panelists:
Anita Gohdes, Professor of International and Cyber Security at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Nicole Koenig, Deputy Director at the Jacques Delors Institute in Berlin
Jiro Minier, Security Analyst at DCSO Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation in Berlin
19:00 – 20:30 Panel 2 – Living up to Expectations in Turbulent Times: What Democratic Responsibility for the European Union ?
In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force. One of its aims was to strengthen the European Union’s democratic credentials by assigning greater importance to both the European Parliament and national parliaments, declaring for the first time that the “functioning of the Union shall be founded on representative democracy”. Fast forward ten years, and the upcoming elections to the European Parliament are expected to lead to a considerable shift in the balance of power, with EU-sceptic parties likely to win a high number of seats. At the same time, the EU increasingly needs to assert itself against global competitors and respond to citizens’ growing expectation that their national governments and the EU need to ‘deliver’. Against this background, the panel asks what role parliaments and other institutions can and should play in fostering the success of the EU integration project. What can be done to improve democratic representation and governance in these turbulent times? And what signals should the EU send to its partners and competitors on the global stage?
Moderator: Declan Curry, Writer, Broadcaster, Journalist and Public Speaker
Panelists:
Bogdan Klich, Senator in the Polish Parliament and minority leader of the Polish Senate, former Minister of National Defence and former Member of the European Parliament
Christine Reh, Dean of Graduate Programmes and Professor of European Politics at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Norbert Röttgen, Member of the German Parliament and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Tom Tugendhat, Member of the British Parliament and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee