EU IDEA project, a webinar to investigate the differentiation in European foreign policy

Bruxelles – On Tuesday 23 March, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) will hold the event European foreign policy in turbulent times: Does differentiation make the EU a stronger actor? (registration by Friday 19 March). The webinar will focus on when and how the differentiation in European foreign policy advanced the EU’s role in world politics and if more differentiation among Member States is now inevitable because of Brexit.

The videoconference will be organized within the framework of EUIDEA – Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability, led by Istituto Affari Internazionali and financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program. This project addresses differentiation and integration issues in order to find solutions to the current challenges for the EU.

Considering the increased great-power rivalry and the global challenges that call for a stronger European foreign policy (even if the diverging interests of Member States continue to hamper efficient EU action), Europe’s voice is heard in world politics thanks to various modalities of differentiation within and outside the EU framework. For example, France and Germany have addressed the Ukraine crisis in the Normandy format with Russia, and they have played a key role in the EU/E3 format aimed at resolving the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program, together with the UK and the EU. Moreover, the EU has launched the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) enabling Member States to deepen their defense policy cooperation.

At next Tuesday’s webinar, Federica Mogherini, Rector of the College of Europe and former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will give a keynote speech, following the opening words by Nicoletta Pirozzi, Head of the Programme on the European Union at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and EU IDEA Project Coordinator.

The panel – moderated by Juha Jokela, Programme Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs – will be composed of Eduard Soler i Lecha, Senior Research Fellow (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs), Marco Siddi, Senior Research Fellow (Finnish Institute of International Affairs), Luigi Scazzieri, Research Fellow (Centre for European Reform), Sven Biscop, Director of the Europe in the World Programme (Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations) and Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Professor (Sabancı University).