Upcoming Events
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).
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.
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 70th anniversary, as the world’s most successful alliance faces perhaps the most daunting and complex set of challenges in its history. 
IES Research Professor 
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 VUB educational services organize regular Get Inspired! -sessions to VUB staff, where peers present perspectives in educational and research practices to inspire one another. On Tuesday 4 December the session zoomed in on sharing practices on benchmarking of educational programmes; invited to speak in the session was IES professor Harri Kalimo.
On Tuesday 27.11. the European Parliament organized the 10th European Innovation Summit. These summits address hot topics on the EU’s policy agenda, highlighting developments in areas crucial for the Union’s competitiveness and sustainable development. The 10thSummit kicked off with a session “Tackling Microplastics with Sustainable Solutions”. Microplastics refer to the very small pieces of plastics that are either intentionally added to products (such as make-up, cleaners and toothpaste) or detach from larger plastic objects as they wear down (e.g. car tyres, textiles) or fragment over a longer period of time (e.g. plastic bottles). An interdisciplinary group of top scientists elaborated on the current state knowledge on microplastics in the 10th Summit. 
Trisha Meyer (Assistant Professor at Vesalius College and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for European Studies) recently concluded a study on the use of artificial intelligence to combat disinformation online. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s STOA (Future of Science and Technology) panel and focuses on the consequences of automated content moderation for freedom of expression and media pluralism. On 13 December 2018, she presented the study with her co-author Chris Marsden (Professor of Internet Law at the University of Sussex) in Strasbourg.
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.
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...
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. 
In its energy vision of 19 May 2017 the Flemish government indicated that it supports the European long-term goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% to 95%. The role that the industry will play in this transition towards a low carbon economy is of course vital in this respect.
The Institute for European Studies (IES) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is proud to announce the appointment of Prof. Dr. Alexander Mattelaer as its new Academic Director, as a successor to Prof. Dr. Luk Van Langenhove. With this new appointment, the IES sees a familiar face take charge of its academic activities. Indeed, Prof. Dr. Mattelaer is not only a senior member of the IES’ International Security cluster, he also has a longstanding affiliation with the Institute in different managerial capacities, having served as Assistant Director and Acting Academic Director for several years in the past. Beyond the IES, Prof. Dr. Mattelaer held posts as Director of European Affairs at Egmont Institute, and Fulbright Schuman Fellow at Harvard University and National Defense University. With a research background on diplomacy and defence issues, he currently teaches several courses at VUB related to EU and international security.
Climate policy is currently high up on the political agenda in Belgium, not in the least because of the public demonstrations taking place in various cities since the beginning of 2019. On 5 February, Sign for my future was launched, a new initiative aimed at a more ambitious Belgian climate policy. This initiative is supported by companies, universities and civil society organisations alike. IES researcher 
In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and with the support of the Institute for European Studies (IES/VUB), the ALL-YOUTH project calls on youth/young researchers to apply for the MasterClass: “The Future of the Council of Europe”. The session will take place on Monday 4 February 2019 at the Tampere University, Finland.
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. 
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. 
IES researcher Jan Claudius Völkel organised an international conference on 15-16 December 2018 in Tunis with ca. 30 participants from different Arab countries, who were invited to discuss aspects of “Parliamentary work and scientific counselling” (so the conference theme) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The conference was one of the main deliverables of his EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship “The role of national parliaments in the Arab transformation processes”, that Jan is currently conducting at the IES [grant number 706113].
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. 
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’.IES in the media...
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Matilda Axelson
Good policies will allow heavy industry to drive a European clean energy economy
18 Feb 2019
In: Foresight Climate & Energy
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Matilda Axelson
Towards a climate neutral industrial strategy in Europe
18 Feb 2019
In: Foresight Climate & Energy
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Luis Simon
What is Europe's Place in Sino-American Competition?
14 Feb 2019
In: War on the Rocks
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Tomas Wyns
Ja, het klimaat is nog te redden
11 Feb 2019
In: De Tijd
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IES is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the 