Last Friday, 9 December 2016, leading politicians, scholars and interested parties followed the invitation of the municipality of Maastricht to attend the 25th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. Among the many speakers to attend, the city was not only honoured to welcome President of the European Commission Jean- Claude Juncker, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz  but also the Dutch Minister of Finance and President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem as well as Herman van Rompuy, former President of the European Council. 

During the event, several  MCEL and CERiM members were given the opportunity to reflect on the past and the future of the EU. As one of the panelists during the second round of discussion, Prof. Bruno de Witte reflected on current shortcomings and challenges for the future of the EU, while Matteo Bonelli and CERiM member Marie-Therèse Gold interacted with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and Dutch Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem. 

Commission President Juncker opened the summit by stressing his pride at having been among among those to have signed the Treaty, and deems it even more important for the public to remember that an Economic and Monetary Union among more than two dozen sovereign nation states, has and will never be “something obvious, evident to realise”. To envisage a future for the Union, the European project, cannot simply be explained by evoking history but necessitates for it to be explained by what it is “today and what it can be tomorrow”.

Putting great emphasis on the value and importance of the treat Treaty, Martin Schulz’ speech invited the audience to have to look back to the historical context in which it was concluded in order to not let the dramatic developments of the past years undermine the fundamental values upon which the European Union was founded, as ” these values are the glue of our European societies, the glue that has kept us together over more than half a century already and that is the guarantee for peace on our continent and within our societies”.

Concluding, Dutch Minister of Finance Dijsselbloem sought to remind the audience during his talk that the interests Europeans share are more vital than the subjects that could possible divide them. As the process of integration within the Eurozone has restarted, it needs to advanced and for that, it is indispensable to “finish what we started … and to put stability, security and opportunity in the lives of people at the heart of our work again”.

Access to information is vital to the exercise of democratic scrutiny. At the same time, some democratic policies require secrecy. Particularly in the realm of security policy, to ensure that democratic principles are heeded, parliaments are informed behind closed doors. In the area of foreign policy, some parliaments choose to refuse access to secret information to retain their freedom to debate matters openly, whilst others have established ‘gangs’ of various sizes that get privileged access to information, but with heavy strings attached. We invite Papers analysing the practice and consequences of closed oversight.

What characterises such procedures, what causes variation, and how do closed procedures impact on the ability and willingness of actors to exercise scrutiny and control?​ This panel is Chaired by Dr Vigjilenca Abazi and is part of the Section ‘Behind Closed Doors Re-Visited: Exploring the Transparency-Accountability-Representation Nexus’ organised by Dr Guri Rosén (University of Oslo) and Dr Anne Elizabeth Stie​ (University of Agder).

On 09 December 2016, the Province of Limburg and the municipality of Maastricht will organise a conference to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. Among others, the city of Maastricht will welcome the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the former Commission President Herman van Rompuy as key note speakers.

The event will take place from 09:00 hrs to 18.30 hrs at the MECC Maastricht. CERiM members have provided three policy briefs to stimulate discussion in the panel debates. On the topic of citizenship in the European Union, Prof. Christine Neuhold and CERiM Co-Director Prof. Thomas Christiansen will contribute with a policy brief entitled ‘Bridging the gap between citizens and the European Union? The Role of National Parliaments after the Lisbon Treaty’. 

CERiM Member Prof. Maarten Vink and Prof. Gerard-René de Groot from the Faculty of Law will shed light on Achievements and Challenges of European Union Citizenship Law by contributing with a piece on Union Citizenship in the Maastricht Treaty. The third contribution entitled ‘Democracy and Accountability in the European Union: Great Leaps forward since the Maastricht Treaty?’, will be presented by  Dr. Vigjilenca Abazi, Prof. Monica Claes and CERiM Co-Director Prof. Ellen Vos.

Moreover, Prof. Bruno De Witte will sit on the panel chaired by European Parliament President Martin Schulz together with the former EU Commissioner for ICT and Telecommunication, Neelie Kroes. More information and the full schedule can be accessed via this link.

On 4 May 2016, CERiM research coordinator Vigjilenca Abazi presented at the European Parliament the draft directive for whistle-blower protection across the European Union.

Dr. Abazi was one of the drafters of the draft directive and offered legal advice on the matter. This draft directive is an initiative by the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament to inspire the European Commission for a possible legislative proposal. More information, including the recoding of the event, may be found here: http://bit.ly/1UvfUQt

On May 2nd 206, CERiM research coordinator Vigijlenca Abazi has published a blog on leaked transparency and whistleblowers on Verfassungsblog.de.

The Panama mega leak and LuxLeaks expose tax heavens and show the salience of whistleblowers for triggering accountability. Yet, in Europe little or no whistleblower protection exists.

As leaks are becoming the new norm of transparency and perhaps the main source of informed public debate, Dr. Abazi discusses the mismatch between whistleblowing and legal protection and argues that the time is ripe for a change on the scene.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Consolidator Grant to Prof. Dr. Maarten Vink for his project ‘Migrant Life Course and Legal Status Transition’. Through this prestigious grant Prof. Vink can expand his scientific research further and hire new researchers for a period of five years.

CERiM’s predecessor, the Maastricht Centre for European Governance (MCEG) has been selected as a “Success Story” by a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.  It has also been highlighted as such on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.“Success Stories” are finalised projects that distinguished themselves with their impact, contribution to policy-making, innovative results and/or creative approach and can be a success inspiration for others.

While the activities of MCEG contributed to put Maastricht on the European map in many ways, the organization of two events particularly stands out. MCEG hosted the first ever European presidential debate, bringing together four of the Spitzenkandidaten on stage in Maastricht in the run-up to the European elections on the 28th of April 2014. The broadcasted event not only reached out to students and the academic community, but also engaged the broader public in EU politics. Furthermore, MCEG also organised the first European teaching and learning conference in June 2014. This large-scale conference enabled lecturers in European studies, politics and international relations to meet and exchange ideas about best practices.

CERiM – also recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the European Commission – continues to build upon this success with a new series of Jean Monnet Lectures and a second edition of the Teaching & Learning Conference. Through conferences, workshops and public lectures as well as salient scientific publications, CERiM aims to cement the strong tradition of European research and teaching in Maastricht.

CERiM Co-Director Prof. Ellen Vos is awarded EU research funding to establish the Jean Monnet network entitled he Academic Research Network on Agencification of EU Executive Governance (TARN).

TARN aims to promote  academic scholarship on the agencification of EU executive governance and to create a platform for dialogue between academics and practitioners. Together with Bruno de Witte (Maastricht University, Faculty of Law) and Esther Versluis (Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) she will collaborate with eight other partners in this network: Michelle Everson (Birkbeck College), Deirdre Curtin (European University Institute), Renaud Dehousse (Sciences-Po Paris), Johannes Pollak (Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna), Giacinto della Cananea (Tor Vergata Rome), Herwig Hoffmann (Luxembourg), Jarle Trondal and Morten Egeberg (Arena Centre for European Studies Oslo), Christian Joerges and Mark Dawson (Hertie School of Governance).

In the coming three years, TARN will organise various workshops, conferences, PhD master classes and stakeholder events. 

Hylke Dijkstra and Petar Petrov (FASoS) participated in the starting conference of the EU-CIVCAP project in Bristol, UK. This EU-funded Horizon 2020 project includes 11 partners. Until the end of 2018, CERiM researchers will analyse the capabilities of the EU for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Maastricht leads a work-package (including IAI, EPLO, CEPS among others) that compares EU capabilities with those of the UN and OSCE.

The European Union (EU) regularly sends military and civilian operations across the globe for the purpose of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. When the EU wants to deploy military troops it is normally clear what sorts of capabilities the EU needs: a command structure, well-trained soldiers, and key enablers such as transport and medical facilities. In recent years, the EU has worked hard on improving those military capabilities.

The EU, however, also often sends civilians abroad. They monitor peace agreements, train local police forces, and provide rule of law functions. It is much less clear what type of capabilities these EU civilians need to do their job. What sorts of training do these monitors, police agents and judges require to operate in difficult environments? How should HR management be structured for these short-term deployments? Do they need armoured vehicles? And what about the use of information technology? Improving these capabilities is of utmost importance in the current context of multiplication of security threats and the need to tackle the root causes of these threats so as to ensure sustainable peace and security around the globe. The EU’s know how and experience in civilian conflict prevention and peacebuilding is unprecedented and it has an unparalleled ability to offer added value in this domain.

The EU-CIVCAP research project seeks answers to these questions. It makes a thorough assessment of past and on-going civilian and military efforts of the EU and other international organisations. It identifies and documents lessons learned. And it seeks to enhance the future policy practice and research on EU conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Dr Hylke Dijkstra and Dr Petar Petrov participated in the kick-off conference of EU-CIVCAP, which took place in Bristol on 11 December 2015. This event brought all the project partners together for the first time. It also included speeches by senior EU officials, such as Dame Rosalind Marsden, former EU Special Representative for Sudan.

FASoS researchers will lead a work-package, which compares the civilian capabilities of the EU with those of other international organisations (United Nations and OSCE). Maastricht will work closely with the Centre for Policy Research (CEPS, Brussels); European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO, Brussels), Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome), Roskilde University (RUC, Denmark), The Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC) and the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP, Serbia) This work-package will result in key policy papers as well as a dissemination workshop in Brussels in 2017. In addition to Hylke Dijkstra and Petar Petrov, the CERiM research team also includes Prof Sophie Vanhoonacker and PhD candidate Ewa Mahr.

EU-CIVCAP is funded under the Secure Societies research programme of Horizon 2020. It has an overall budget of €1.7 million and runs until the end of 2018. EU-CIVCAP is coordinated by the University of Bristol.

From September 2015 on, CERiM member Dr. Kiran Patel, Professor for European and Global History at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, has been awarded EU funding to chair the Jean Monnet Centre for Excellence. The new Jean Monnet Chair will strengthen the historical component of European Studies at the faculty and is closely connected to the Centre for European Research in Maastricht and to HOMER, a transnational Jean Monnet Centre co-organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as well as the University of Cologne, and the German Sports University in Cologne.