Marie Lamensch, Research Professor of International and European Tax Law at the Institute for European Studies and the Law Faculty of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has co-authored the second edition of the book “Taxing Global Digital Commerce”, with Arthur Cockfield (Queen’s University) and Walter Hellerstein (Georgia Law School). This new book includes a detailed and up-to-date analysis of income tax and VAT developments regarding digital commerce under the OECD and G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) reforms.

The 'European Union in International Affairs' (#EUIA20) has taken a next step in its organisation. It has accepted or rejected paper and panel proposals based on a thorough blind review process involving the members of our national and international steering committees. Each proposal was reviewed anonymously by at least two experts and graded independently each time, taking into account scientific quality, novelty and fit with the conference theme. The overall acceptance rate was 51 percent. #EUIA20 will take place from 27-29 May 2020. Regular updates on the organisation are provided at the conference website.

In her speech to the European Parliament on 27.11, Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen highlighted the need to make the European internal market work better. She highlighted the need to open up the markets, while at the same time not leaving anyone behind. The challenge is to support a better functioning EU market, in particular on services, while making sure that the workers’ rights and professions are governed in fair and transparent fashion. A balance needs to be struck between the free movement of workers, services and establishment, on the one hand, and the regulation of professions, on the other. These themes were explored in great detail in 2-day training sessions on Free movement in the context of Professional Qualifications, offered by IES Professor Harri Kalimo, Professor Vassilis Hatzopoulos (Pantheion University, Athens) and researcher Lea Mateo, on 22.-23.10. and 4.-5.12. at the IES. The trainees were experts from the SOLVIT network, established by the Commission in 2001 to help companies and individuals with problems to operate across the borders. 

Planning your summer 2020? - Join this year’s Inter-University Summer School on EU Policy-making at the Institute for European Studies, VUB and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Explore both the old and the new centre of Diplomacy in Europe with this summer school. The intensive two-week programme is held one week in Brussels and one week in Vienna from Monday 6 to Friday 17 July 2020. 2020 Summer School theme is Analysing human security in today’s EU. Application is open! Don't miss the early-bird deadline of 15 March to get a 10% discount on the tuition fee! 
For more information, visit the Summer School website.

In December 2016, the Horizon 2020 project “COP21: Results, Implications, Pathways and Policies for Low-Emissions European Societies (COP21-RIPPLES)” officially started. The project was running for three years, until November 2019 and it was coordinated by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris. The project aimed to provide interdisciplinary analysis of the conditions of EU climate policy in the strategic context of the Paris climate change agreement concluded in 2015.

The VUB’s Institute for European Studies (IES) was among 17 leading universities and institutes that joined forces to produce climate policy guidelines and the IES was one of the main partners of the project. Under the lead of Prof. Sebastian Oberthür, and with valuable contributions of IES Project researchers Tomas Wyns and Gauri Khandekar, the IES cluster on Environment and Sustainable Development was in particular co-coordinating Work Package 4 of the project that...

The Institute for European Studies (IES), Vesalius College (VeCo) in Brussels and the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) of the University of Warwick in the UK are offering a joint training programme on the Politics of International Development. 

The training will be held at the West Midlands Europe Hub in Brussels on Friday evening 17th January and all day Saturday 18th January 2020.

The training, aimed at early to mid-career professionals, will provide a solid introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals in context and detailed knowledge on the framing, implementation and implications of Sustainable Development Goal 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies. It will take a critical approach to the dominant international development agenda. It will enable participants to situate the Sustainable Development Goals in an intellectual history of thinking on development, as well as the contemporary challenges of the pressures on multilateralism and resources and demands...