On 2 October 2019, the EU Commission’s Director General for Taxation and Customs has reappointed professor Marie Lamensch as effective member of the European Commission VAT Expert Group for the next three years. Marie Lamensch has been a member of this expert group since 2016. The task of the VAT Expert Group is (1) to advise the European Commission on the preparation of legislative acts and other policy initiatives in the field of VAT; and (2) to provide insight concerning the practical implementation of legislative acts and other EU policy initiatives in the field of VAT.

Among the objectives composing the 2018 UN Global Compact for Migration, Objective 21 deals with the return of migrants to their countries of origin. This objective includes a reference to sustainable reintegration occurring when returnees have access to psycho-social assistance, justice and occupational prospects. The policy objective of sustainable reintegration apparently enjoys broad support in the face of some countries increasingly opposing the global governance of migration. Such support can be explained by making reference to sustainable reintegration’s potential to accommodate diverse interests and the limited monitoring of the programmes it underpins. 

Prof. Dr. Caterina Carta (Director of Master Studies at Vesalius College and former project researcher at the IES) together with Prof. Dr. Richard Higgott (Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick and Research Professor at the IES), have published a new book that explores European cultural diplomacy, a topic of growing interest across the scholarly and applied public policy communities. 

The Jean Monnet network ‘Governing the EU’s Climate and Energy Transition in Turbulent Times’ (GOVTRAN), to which the IES-VUB serves as leading coordinator, held its second international workshop under the overarching theme ‘Climate and Energy Governance and the Future of Europe’ at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome on 30 September – 1 October 2019. Seventeen researchers from across Europe presented twelve draft papers examining how various aspects of EU climate and energy policy interact with some of the underlying causes of the current crisis of European integration. Topics included, inter alia, the impact of rising populism, the role of Central and Eastern European Member States, the effectiveness of EU policies to promote renewable energy, the role of the European Parliament and of the Commission, and changes in EU international climate and energy governance. 

For decades, the Institute for European Studies (IES) and Vesalius College (VeCo) have built up strong reputations as frontrunners in education, research, and academic services on the international scene. Both being associated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), one of Belgium’s prime universities with a strong internationalisation focus, the IES and VeCo have decided to work together more closely as of the summer of 2019. 

Although both institutions remain independent, their combined resources and expertise in both European studies and global governance will create multiple synergies that their stakeholders will benefit from – not in the least the students in their academic programmes. 

On Saturday 24 August, IES and University of Turku Joint-PhD candidate Max Jansson defended his doctoral thesis publicly on the legal aspects of PPMs in interstate trade at the University of Turku. In his work, Jansson examined specifically the environmental PPM-criteria on renewable energy implemented by the EU Member States and U.S. states from the perspective of rules on free trade. Jansson argued that under WTO law, EU free movement law and U.S. constitutional law, PPM-criteria can indeed be adopted both for in-state production and imported goods, as long as the criteria are carefully designed. Max’s findings and conclusions provide valuable insights to stakeholders that design and apply sustainability criteria and programs on essential products such as biofuels or electricity from renewable resources.

The public defence of the PhD in Law by Max Jansson will take place on Saturday 24 August 2019 at 11:15 CET. This is a joint PhD with the University of Turku. After an internal defense at the IES, the public defense will take place in Turku. The title of the PhD manuscript is "Value Reconciliation in Trade Law in Light of Criteria on Process and Production Methods – A Comparative study on the EU, the U.S. and the WTO". The Opponent in the public defense will be Prof. Dr. Gareth Davies from Tilburg University. The promoters of the thesis are Prof. Dr. Harri Kalimo (IES-VUB) and Prof. Dr. Tuomas Mylly (University of Turku).