Visegrad’s Role in EU Foreign Policy and Global Strategy - “European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2016” Public Launch

Type: 
Conference
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Building: 
Nador u. 9, Monument Building
Room: 
Popper Room
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 1:30pm
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Date: 
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 1:30pm to 4:50pm

The CEU Center for European Neighborhood Studies (CENS) in cooperation with the European Coucil on Foreign Relations (ECFR) cordially invite you to the conference

Visegrad’s Role in EU Foreign Policy and Global Strategy
“European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2016” Public Launch


With the war in Ukraine and Syria as well as the rise of Daesh continuing, and the flow of refugees into the EU reaching unprecedented heights, the year 2015 has been a tumultuous one for European foreign policy. Voicing a distinct position contrary to that of many of the “old” member states on the refugee crisis has also put the Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in the limelight of EU foreign policy making. In the meanwhile, the preparations of the EU Global Strategy on foreign and security policy, a milestone document set out to give answers to the many challenges the EU is facing in the rapidly changing global environment, has been in the making.

The conference will discuss what role these Central European countries have played in EU foreign action in 2015 and how they can contribute to the shaping and later implementing of the EU Global Strategy, while also giving an insight into the development of the strategy itself.

Program of the event

13.30 – 13.45 Registration

13.45 – 15.00 Panel I. – European Global Strategy: State of Play and Expectations
Since 2003, when the EU published its European Security Strategy, much have changed in the world. The European Union is facing both new threats and challenges and it is in its eminent interest to be able to effectively answer both. To live up to the challenge, High Representative and Vice President Federica Mogherini is currently working on a new Global Strategy that would define the EU’s place in the world and would steer its global action. The complex development process of the strategy needs to incorporate the contributions of all EU member states, while it also attracts the input of experts and analysts. As the start of the drafting process is drawing near, this panel discussion will give an insight into the current state of affairs with the participation of experts and officials with first-hand experience in the process.

Chair: Péter Balázs, Director, CEU Center for European Neighborhood Studies, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary

Speakers:
Antonio Missiroli, Director, European Union Institute for Security Studies
Károly Grúber, Head of Department of Common Foreign and Security Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary

15.00 – 15.15 Coffee break

15.15 – 16.45 Panel II. – Visegrad and the Global Strategy
The developments in the EU’s Eastern neighborhood and the increasing flow of refugees into the EU through the Western Balkans have certainly occupied high ranks on the foreign policy agendas of the Visegrad countries of the past year. After the Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 which had rather divided the four countries, the refugee crisis has united the V4 but in opposition of the rest of the European Union. In this context, what role do and will the Visegrad countries play in the shaping of European foreign action? How do their interests and priorities feed into the development of the EU Global Strategy?

Chair: Zsuzsanna Végh, Research fellow, CEU Center for European Neighborhood Studies, Budapest

Speakers:
Adam Balcer, Associate Researcher, European Council on Foreign Relations
Martin Michelot, Research Director, Europeum
Milan Nic, Director, Central European Policy Institute

16.45 – 16.50 Concluding remarks

To attend, please, register at Zsuzsanna Végh (veghzs@ceu.edu) by March 29, 2016.

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