On 28 November, the European Commission launched its long term strategy for emission reductions, entitled ‘A clean planet for all – A European strategic long term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive an climate neutral economy’.

The EU Strategy document puts forward substantial emission reduction efforts by the industry as one of the crucial elements to reach the goal of a carbon neutral Europe by 2050. The European Commission is using insights from research and policy advice provided by the Institute for European Studies (IES) in two IES research reports commissioned by the EU.

On November 28, Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) hosted a speech by IES President Karel De Gucht on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement and the future of the liberal international order. Keidanren Chairman, Mr. Shimizu, held the opening address with about thirty Keidanren members attending. As the former EU Commissioner for trade, Mr. De Gucht gave a key speech, in 2013, at Keidanren formally announcing the start of negotiations of the Japan-EU EPA later that year.

Photo by Keidanren

Research internationalisation is vital for an open and modern university like the VUB. International research co-operation brings impact, visibility, quality, and (of course) funding. But internationalisation can have its dark sides: the problems of human rights violations, industrial espionage, and working with questionable regimes cannot be ignored, particularly when they touch the VUB community directly. During this session on 4 December, the VUB research community discussed the challenges of international collaboration with a panel of policy-makers.

The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors of the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) is in the process of producing a Scientific Opinion on the heatedly debated topic of microplastics. The Group’s Initial Statement on this topic was published in July 2018, followed up by a background paper on the microplastic pollution policy context in November 2018, and thereafter an Evidence Review Report authored by an interdisciplinary consortium of scientists (SAPEA). In the 10-11 January expert workshop, the state of scientific knowledge on micro-plastics was discussed on the basis of the SAPEA report and other input, and aimed at facilitating the formulation of the Scientific Opinion. 

A new 4-year research project entitled “Policy integration: decarbonisation and security of supply in the European Union's external energy policy” is currently taking off at the IES’ cluster on Environment and Sustainable Development. The project explores varying levels of integration of the key policy objectives of decarbonisation and security of supply into the European Union’s external energy policy toward third countries. It specifically focuses on the EU’s external energy policy toward and gas relations with key partner countries (Russia, Norway, Algeria/Azerbaijan).

The European Commission and antitrust regulators worldwide are focusing their policy and enforcement priorities on key aspects of the digital economy including e-commerce, big data and algorithms. Blockchain appears to be now next in line for scrutiny.  On 16 January 2019, the IES assembled a unique expert panel to explore and debate the “promises and perils” of this emerging and transformative technology in the antitrust context.  The panel was led by Dave Anderson, IES Associate Researcher (and Head of the Brussels office of the law firm BCLP LLP), and it included a diverse spectrum of expertise on blockchain and antitrust: Fabio Falconi from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, Pontus Lindblom who has been commissioned by the Swedish Competition Authority to advise them on blockchain, Thibault Schrepel from Utrecht University who is a leading commentator on the antitrust risks involved in blockchain and Falk Schöning from the law firm Hogan Lovells who participated e.g. in the OECD Blockchain roundtable last year as a private sector...

On 5 December Silviu was invited to speak at the NORTIA Practitioner-Academic Roundtable ‘EU Foreign Policy Cooperation: Quo Vadis EU Diplomacy in the EaP?’ event held at Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. The roundtable brought together practitioners and academics to discuss the role and practice of EU diplomacy in achieving the goals of the EU Global Strategy in building state and societal resilience in the neighbourhood, of engagement in a practical and principled way of peacebuilding and supporting global governance around the world. 

On Tuesday 12 February, the PILC students of the IES had a rare opportunity to witness an important piece of EU law being created. In the landmark case C-619/18, the Commission has boldly taken Poland to Court for breaching the rule of law. More specifically, Poland is charged for failing in its obligation to provide remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law (Art 19(1) TEU & Art 47 EUCFR), because it had unilaterally decreased the retirement age of the judges in the Polish Supreme Court. The change effectively forced the judges to leave the Court against their own will, which threatens the independence of the judiciary. This is in the Commission’s view a serious failure that jeopardises the mutual trust on which the entire EU politico-legal system is based.

With the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Jean Monnet Network on Governing the EU’s Climate and Energy Transition in Turbulent Times or GOVTRAN brings together a broad range of scholars interested in climate and energy governance in the European Union. GOVTRAN reaches out to the wider epistemic community and actively fosters engagement with policymakers and the broader public in this field. The project is coordinated by the IES’ research cluster on Environment and Sustainable Development (Prof. Sebastian Oberthür) and implemented in collaboration with three other universities: Ghent University, the University of East Anglia and the University of Eastern Finland. 

VUB Rector Caroline Pauwels has repeatedly called for tearing down ‘disciplinary walls and fragmentation’ within the VUB. Inspired by such a vision, VUB scholars led by IES professors Ilke Adam and Florian Trauner have created the ‘Brussels Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities (BIRMM)’. It brings together over 90 VUB researchers from 10 disciplines. BIRMM has the ambition to become a key point of reference for VUB research on migration and minorities-related topics and to act as the university’s transmission belt to the outside world. 

Alexander Mattelaer and Jordan Becker contributed to a new report by former U.S. Permanent Representatives to NATO Ambassadors Douglas Lute and Nicholas Burns, entitled "NATO at Seventy: An Alliance in Crisis." The report coincides with NATO's 70^th anniversary, as the world’s most successful alliance faces perhaps the most daunting and complex set of challenges in its history. 

NATO Photo