institute of europe
the institute of europe of the russian academy of sciences
«Modern Europe: 60 years after the Treaty of Rome»
- 29 March 2017
On March 29, 2017, IE RAS held international conference «Modern Europe: 60 years after the Treaty of Rome».
The conference was attended by scientific associates and experts from various RAS institutes, leading Russian universities (MGIMO, MSU, RUDN, HSE), representatives of Russian Foreign Ministry, as well as students and post-graduate students.
The conference was opened by IE RAS Director, RAR Corresponding member Аl.А. Gromyko, stating that Brexit might lead to unpredictable consequences, as it questions the integrity not only of EU, but of UK as well. Since the collapse of EU Constitution, the crises led to «constructive destruction», but now Europe faces the question, whether the centrifugal forces will stop? Nevertheless, the EU is still a heavy weight regional player.
Deputy Director of IE RAS Dr. О.V. Butorina stressed that Europe faces serious problems and challenges that are to be dealt with in cooperation with other actors, including Russia.
The conference was moderated by Dr. О.Y. Potemkina and Е.А. Маslova. The first section hosted reports on history of EEC-ЕU, present state and possible EU development scenarios in light of Brexit. Researchers spoke of global challenges the EU is currently facing: consequences of world economic crisis, identity crisis, migration challenges, rebuilding strategic partnership with the new US administration. Special focus was on the founding states, primarily the French-German tandem: the countries had to overcome historical contradictions, and now they face new leadership challenges in light of the current EU crisis. The participants also discussed the positions of major political parties in France, Germany and the Netherlands in election campaigns of 2017.
The second section was devoted to the states that joined the European integration later (Greece, Spain, Cyprus, countries of Northern Europe), as well as candidate states and those who still aspire to join the EU (the countries of South Caucasus and Balkans).
The conference proceeds, including its vivid discussion, will be published in a special IE RAS report.
