Moving Forward with Europe! (1/3): Welcome address and introduction, Keynote 1, Keynote 2

Welcome address and introduction:
- Ralf Fücks, President, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin
- Lucile Schmid, President, Green European Foundation, Paris

Keynote I: One Europe – Why? – How do we need to redefine the European project?
· Why do we need a common Europe?
· What fundamental consensus is holding Europe together today and tomorrow?
What are the identity forming motifs and unifying interests in a united Europe?

Andrew Moravcsik, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA

Keynote II: After sixty years, is the era of European integration drawing to a close?
· Liberal democracy under pressure: causes and implications
· Is the crisis in Europe a crisis of the EU institutions or a crisis of the democracies of nation states? Is the EU a part of the problem or a part of the solution?
· What shape should an EU take for it to assert itself against US supremacy?

Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford

Discussion involving the two keynote speakers and
- Ralf Fücks, President, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin
- Chair: Sylke Tempel, Editor-in-Chief, Berlin Policy Journal, Berlin

About the conference: "Moving Forward with Europe!
The liberal democracy crisis and the future of the EU"

The British referendum vote against the EU, Donald Trump‘s victory in the USA, right-wing national governments in Hungary and Poland, strong right-wing populist and also left-wing populist movements across Europe: an increasing number of citizens are deciding against established politics and against Europe - at least
against the European Union as we know it today.

Whilst left-wing globalization critics denounce the EU as a “neoliberal cartel”, right-wing populists are standing up to the transfer of sovereignty from the national to the European level.
They swear by the national community and challenge the liberal canon of values for which the EU stands: checks and balances, minority rights and universalist human rights.

Europe’s cohesion and ability to act are under threat. The European Union is divided on many issues. By not bravely tackling the major challenges, such as unemployment and economic stagnation, the financial crisis or refugee policy, it is further stoking its crisis of legitimacy.

Why do we need a common Europe?
Sixty years after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, Europe must once again pull together, turn the crisis into an opportunity and defend its liberal democracy model. There is much to lose: peace and security, the freedom of movement and political freedoms, for which Europeans have fought for centuries.

The European Union must provide credible responses – in areas where Europe can achieve more through a common stance: a strong value-based foreign and security policy, a sustainable economic and infrastructure policy, an innovation-friendly climate and energy policy, a refugee and asylum policy that measures up to the current challenges. The EU must, in future, continue to be a guarantor for prosperity, peace and freedom.

Through this conference, we want to examine the question of how Europe can defend its liberal values, reach a new fundamental consensus, revitalize the spirit of cooperation and solidarity, and strengthen its ability to act.