Saturday 25 June 9:30-17:00 Venue: Law Faculty Building Leiden: Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw
Draft programme
Interdependence, cooperation and strategic autonomy: A (legal) view from the EU
Swings and developments in the foreign policy of world powers have accelerated the awareness of the need for the EU to clarify and strengthen its geo-political position. In terms of security, but also in many other areas, the EU faces the need to define and promote its own position, even while being committed to common international responses. The phrase that has become current in attempting to capture this new focus is "strategic autonomy". It forms part of a rhetoric (think of: "Resilient Europe", "Managed Globalisation", "Geopolitical Europe", "Europe that protects") that reflects problems of access to vital resources, concerns over dependence on third countries, and the desire, especially in commercial policy, to defend and disseminate the EU's own rules and norms.
Strategic autonomy is clearly a political concept but also poses economic and legal questions.
For example: does strategic autonomy necessarily imply an 'EU-first' policy? Is European strategic autonomy potentially constrained by familiar features of EU law, such as its system of competences, its openness to international law, and its respect for fundamental rights? What are the distributive, social, moral and normative consequences of this turn to strategic autonomy? How do strategic autonomy aims affect the EU's relations with its neighbours, including the UK? If strategic autonomy is essentially a political idea, what part is played by democratic institutions and processes - and what is the place in such security-inspired developments for common efforts to combat electoral interference and counter post-truth propaganda, to preserve the autonomy of the EU and domestic institutions?
The 2022 Leiden-London meeting addresses these questions.
Keynote: Strategic Autonomy in the EU's external relations - Frank Hoffmeister
Close neighbours, the UK - Alan Dashwood
Strategic autonomy in specific areas: Part I
The Strategic Compass: a legal analysis of the guide to a European Defence Union - Steven Blockmans
Investment, FDI - Mavluda Sattorova
Lunch
Strategic autonomy in specific areas: Part II
Energy and environmental concerns - Leigh Hancher
Digital economy / cyber security - (tbc)
Closing panel: Overarching political and legal issues
Panel discussion (including Marise Cremona, Christophe Hillion, Ben Smulders, Thomas Ackermann).
Speakers:
Frank Hoffmeister EEAS
Alan Dashwood Henderson Chambers, London
Steven Blockmans CEPS and UvA
Mavluda Sattorova University of Liverpool
Leigh Hancher University of Tilburg
Marise Cremona EUI (emeritus)
Christophe Hillion, University of Oslo
Ben Smulders Legal Service, European Commission
Thomas Ackermann, University of Munich
Kindly register for the event in the link below:
https://www.formdesk.com/universiteitleiden/Leiden_London_2022_event_25June_2022 .
