In 2017 the City of Maastricht, the Province of Limburg and Maastricht University commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty by means of a series of events under the heading Europe Calling. The debate on the role of EU agencies in the future Europe takes place  within the framework of the Europe Calling programme.

What do EU agencies do? Do EU agencies need to be controlled more or better? Do EU agencies need to be more independent? Are EU agencies sufficiently transparent? Do EU agencies need to be merged? Is the model on which EU agencies are based in terms of expertise still sufficient for the future? Do EU agencies need to be spread geographically all over the EU? Do EU agencies need to connect more to citizens? Can EU agencies bring Europe closer to its citizens? These and many other questions will be discussed during this debate.

Event: (livestream)

12.45-13.15: Registration

13.15-13.30: Welcome by the Mayor of Maastricht and the Rector of Maastricht University

13.30-13.45: EU Agencies on the Move: The position of EU Agencies in the EU Institutional Landscape by Ellen Vos, Professor of EU law, Maastricht University

13.45-14.45: EU Agencies: Mission, Tasks and Future with presentations by:

• Berndt Körner, Deputy Executive Director, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency
• Robert Wainwright, Executive Director, Europol
• Michael O’Flaherty, Executive Director, Fundamental Rights Agency
• Adam Farkas, Executive Director, European Banking Authority
• Alberto Spagnolli, Head of the Executive Office Unit, European Food Safety Authority

14.45-15.15: Coffee break

15.15-17.00: EU Agencies: Challenges Ahead (moderated by Ellen Vos, Maastricht University)

Round Table Discussion with directors of EU agencies and audience:

• Bernhard Url, chair of the EU Agencies Network and Executive Director of European Food Safety Authority
• Emily O’Reilly, European Ombudsman
• Jeroen Lenaers, Member of the European Parliament
• Pierpaolo Settembri, Assistant to the DG MOVE, European Commission
• Monique Goyens, Director General, European Consumer Organisation, BEUC
• Deirdre Curtin, Prof. of EU law, European University Institute
• Michelle Everson, Prof. of EU law, Birkbeck University, London University

17.00-18.00: Closing by Ellen Vos followed by a reception

EU Agencies

The European Union cannot be imagined without EU agencies; it simply cannot function without them. European agencies perform a key role in the European integration process. These agencies, denoted recently by the Council, Commission and Parliament as decentralized agencies, deal with complex technical and scientific issues by providing expertise, they introduce more, and more flexible, administrative capacity and efficiency. They facilitate, coordinate and strengthen cooperation between national authorities, (re)gain trust and credibility, improve implementation, supervision and increase networking and participation of more actors, such as stakeholders and citizens.

EU agencies adopt important legally binding decisions for both the European economy and its citizens, deciding about the registration of European trademarks, plant varieties and certain chemical substances as well as about the airworthiness of airplanes. And, where they do not have legally binding decision-making powers, they do influence EU decision making to a great extent, for example with their scientific opinions on the safety of foods and medicines, chemicals, most of which are followed by the European Commission. Even agencies that merely collect data play a key role, as this data gathering guides the EU in its policy and decision making.

EU agencies thus are critical for European integration, for the EU’s economy and the wellbeing of its citizen. With the mushrooming of EU agencies, and the agencification of EU executive governance, queries arise as regards the position of EU agencies within the EU institutional structure and their relation with the Member States; as well as their accountability, control and institutional co-ordination; all this against the background of the upcoming reform of the EU in the aftermath of Brexit.

International Relations and the European Union takes a unique approach by incorporating the study of the EU’s world role into the wider field of international relations. As the most comprehensive introduction to the EU’s international relations written by leading experts in the field, it is the key text for anyone wishing to understand the EU’s role in the contemporary world.

Beginning with an examination of theoretical frameworks and approaches, the book goes on to address the institutions and processes that surround the EU’s international relations. Key policy areas, such as security and trade, are outlined in detail, alongside the EU’s relations with specific countries, including the United States, China, India, and Russia.

Updates for the third edition include expanded discussions of three key perspectives to provide a rounded picture of the EU’s place in the international system: as a sub-system of international relations, as part of the process of international relations, and as a power in its own right.

For more information, visit the book’s website here.

Michael Geary, the current Programme Director, is leaving Maastricht University for a new position at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Michael will remain Programme Director until the end of this calendar year.

For more information on the programme, please find it here.

The event is free and will be taking place at the Statenzaal, Faculty of Law (Boullionstraat 1-3) at 18:00 – 20:00.

DISCUSSANTS:

Prof. Bruno de Witte: Professor of European Union Law, Maastricht University

Prof. Aalt Willem Heringa: Professor of (Comparative) Constitutional and Administrative Law, Maastricht University

Prof. Jure Vidmar: Professor of Public International Law, Maastricht University

CHAIR:

Prof. Hildegard Schneider: Dean of the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University

On 28 September 2017, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM) jointly organised a conference on “Thinking Europe Forward”, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Maastricht. Bringing together politicians, academics and some 200 students from Maastricht University, the conference provided an opportunity to discuss current issues and future challenges confronting Europe.

The highlight of the day was the keynote lecture by EU’s High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini. In her speech, Ms. Mogherini shared her thoughts on the issues that the European Union has to face but also touched upon her personal experiences as a student. Her message to the UM students in the audience was about the importance of taking action and being engaged with European issues.

The conference was opened at the Gouvernment of the Province of Limburg, by Kings Commissioner, Governor of the Province of Limburg, Mr. Theo Bovens, and the Vice President of Maastricht University, Dr. Nick Bos. The former President of the European Parliament and current president of the KAS, Dr. Hans Gert Pöttering, gave the welcome speech on the importance of the European idea and the positive role of Europe’s youth.

The second part of the conference took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and consisted of four parallel workshops on some of the key issues of European affairs arising from the Maastricht Treaty and still remaining on the top of the agenda today: the reform of the Eurozone, the common foreign policy of the EU, the rise of populism, and role of the youth in the future of Europe. The debate in each workshop was introduced by an eminent speaker – Dr. Katharina Gnath (Senior Project Manager of the Bertelsmann Stiftung), Mr. René van der Linden (Former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), Prof. Gianfranco Pasquino (Professor Emeritus of Political Science University of Bologna) on populism, and Mr. Jeroen Lenaers (Member of the European Parliament) – who then discussed with the students how best to tackle the issues arising in these fields.  

After the workshops, a roundtable, chaired by CERiM Co-director Thomas Christiansen, brought the invited speakers together to debate the issues arising from the workshops with the audience. This engaging discussion concluded a day which provided unique opportunities for UM students to meet and actively debate the future of Europe with current and former decision-makers.

The conference was closed by Dr. Hardy Ostry, the Head of the KAS European Office in Brussels.

Snapshots of the Conference (Courtesy of KAS)

At the heart of his lecture, titled “Heroes and villains in European integration: The battle between Jacques Delors and Margaret Thatcher – and its meaning today”, Mr. Teasdale highlighted the struggle between former President of the European Commission (1995) and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on their views regarding the future of Europe as a united and democratic community. In response to Delors plans to instate the European Parliament as the democratic body of the European Community, among other plans to extend the Commission and the Council of Ministers’ powers over the 12 members of the European Community, Thatcher is famously remembered for answering with a resounding “No, no, no!”. Mr. Teasdale, whose professional career included being the Special Adviser to Sir Geoffrey Howe, the British Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, was present for the last three years of Thatcher as prime minister to witness the tumultuous struggle between what he considered “the two of the most important figures in the shaping of contemporary European integration and the European Union as we know it”.

Much like the issues raised around Brexit regarding sovereignty of nation states, democratic governance, the challenges of the single currency and market, and Europe as a united entity, Mr. Teasdale pointed out that such themes and topics are nothing new and that they have been debated since the 1950s when Jean Monnet started developments (Treaty of Rome, the European Communities, and sp forth) that eventually became the foundation for the European Union. Furthermore, these issues were also heavily debated between Delors and Thatcher. In some ways, Brexit can be seen as a continuation of competing visions between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

The lecture ended with a question-and-answer session with students and staff and Dr. Martin Westlake, a previous Jean Monnet speaker, was also present to respond to Mr. Teasdale. Professor Michael Shackleton gave the closing speech and announced the next speaker will be the former Prime Minister of Finland and current vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Alexander Stubb. The lecture will take place on Thursday, 23 November. The location will be announced shortly.

The conference brought together external speakers and MCEL and CERiM researchers working on this topic, who had the opportunity to summarise and discuss their findings and outline further research for the upcoming years.

After the opening by MCEL and CERiM co-director Prof. Ellen Vos, in Panel I (Multi-speed Europe as a Legal and Policy Concept), chaired by MCEL co-director Prof. Bruno de Witte, Bernd Martenczuk (Legal Service of the European Commission) gave a detailed explanation of the legal framework of differentiated integration, while the Dean of University College Maastricht, Prof. Mathieu Segers provided valuable insights on ‘Differentiated integration since the Maastricht Treaty: past, present and future’.

Panel II focused on the academic perspectives on differentiated integration and was chaired by CERiM researcher Prof. Sophie Vanhoonacker. Maciej Kisilowski, Associate Prof. at CEU Budapest, gave a presentation on ‘Conditionality 2.0’, followed by CERiM researcher Prof. Esther Versluis, presenting differentiated integration as an absolute necessity in order to regulate complex policy problems. The last presentation of the Panel was delivered by Prof. Bruno de Witte on ‘The Future of Differentiation and the Obstacle of Treaty Revision’.

The conference was concluded by the launch of the recently published volume ‘Between Flexibility and Disintegration, The Trajectory of Differentiation in EU Law’, edited by MCEL and CERiM researchers. MCEL researcher, Associate Prof. Maja Brkan chaired the discussion between Prof. Michael Dougan (Liverpool University) and Assistant Prof. Natassa Athanasiadou, MCEL member, followed by the closing by MCEL member, Associate Prof. Andrea Ott.

The five new members are a mix of senior and junior scholars currently stationed at the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University.

Karolina Podstawa is a lecturer at Maastricht University. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute and MAs in Law and Administration (2008), English Language and Literature (2009) from the University of Łódź, Poland as well as the EUI (2009). She acted as a project manager for the EUI based Centre for Judicial Cooperation where she dealt with and contributed substantively both to internally and externally funded projects. Within this framework she organized and conducted quasi-training activities for judges collaborating widely with international judicial organizations and national judicial entities. Her research interests lie in the area of internal and external human rights policies of the European Union (external policy tools were a subject of her PhD thesis), data protection, judicial dialogue and cooperation.

Bilyana Petkova is Assistant Professor of International and European law at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Kent at Brussels and a Master in Legal Studies from the Yale Law School. While at Yale, she worked as a Research Assistant for Professors Judith Resnik and Reva Siegel and taught seminars at the summer program Yale Young Global Scholars. Bilyana received her first MA in European Studies from the University of Maastricht and BA in International and European Studies from Panteion University, Athens. She was also a Visiting Scholar at the Law Department of the European University Institute in Florence, a consultant on EU data protection in Bonn, and a trainee at the European Commission’s Representation in Athens. Her academic interests are in comparative constitutional law, EU law, federalism and fundamental rights.

Natassa Athanasiadou is Assistant Professor of European Union law at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University since April 2017. Previously, she worked for the European Commission, first as an intern in the Legal Service (Institutions Team) and subsequently as a Legal Officer advising on matters of EU institutional, administrative and civil service law. Prior to her employment at the European Commission, she worked as a research scholar at the Center for International and European Economic Law in Thessaloniki and as a qualified lawyer of the Bar Association of Thessaloniki. Natassa’s research interests lie mainly in the area of European institutional and administrative law, comparative administrative law and fundamental rights, in particular procedural rights.

Eva van Ooij is a PhD student and is researching the subject of highly mobile professionals within the cultural industries.

Mathias Müller is a PhD student extra muros and is researching the subject of access to information on monitoring EU environmental law.

Diane will be working alongside CERiM’s current team, consisting of co-directors Prof. Dr. Thomas Christiansen and Prof. Dr. Ellen Vos, research coordinator Dr. Johan Adriaensen, and centre manager, Shelly Tsui. 

Diane was previously Assistant Professor in EU Law at Utrecht University and a Max Weber Postdoctoral fellow in Law at the European University Institute of Florence, Italy. She obtained her PhD in November 2013 from the University of Pavia (Italy) and Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain). Currently, since February 2017, she is Assistant Professor in European Law at Maastricht University. Her research focuses on National and Regional parliaments in the European Union and, more generally, on any topic related to parliaments in the EU, such as interparliamentary cooperation. She is also interested in independent fiscal institutions and has a specific interest for institutional matters in the EU and in a comparative constitutional perspective.

On 1 July Natasja Reslow was invited to give a presentation at Route66, the youth talent development programme of the Dutch political party D66. The theme of the day was future challenges facing the EU, and Natasja’s presentation concerned migration. She introduced EU migration policy to date, and spoke of the need to balance security and mobility; to improve integration processes; to design a humanitarian migration policy; and to break through the discourse and narrative surrounding migration in order to focus on facts.