Vol. 8 • Issue 36 • October - December 2011
News letter
Successful PhD Defence: Congratulations Dr. Ben Van Rompuy
Read more on p. 2
PhD Defence Ben Van Rompuy
Profile: Marie Lamensch
Jamal at Oman’s Annual
eGovernment Awards &
speaking in EP
Citadel Autumn Lecture Series
Policy Forum: Transatlantic cooperation on accessing raw materials
Corpus: events kick off in Helsinki
New FWO Research Project
Policy Forum: Europe Interconnected?
Environmental Law lectures recognised by EC
EUISS Washington, DC
Nato’s role in conflict prevention?
Book launch: ‘Preventing Conflict, Managing Crisis’
Seminar on the EU’s security strategy
EFSP Researchers’ Study Trip to Korea and China
Policy Forum - the European modules on migrant integration: an added value for the Member States?
Workshop European Integration and consensus politics in the Low Countries
IES online modules and summer school accredited
Interactive Computer Aided Blended Learning conference in Guatemala City and Antigua
Bridging the Gap: Teaching the EU in schools
EU in Close-up
Webinars
Annual European Economics Association meeting in Oslo
Book launch: “On the road to EU Membership” with keynote by Turkey’s Minister for the EU
FREIT Conference in Tokyo
2 4 6 8 10 11
Information SocietyEnvironment
Sustainable Dev’t Foreign & Security Policy Educational Development Migration & Diversity European Economics
The Institute for European Studies is proud to
announce that on 4 October 2011 Ben Van Rompuy
successfully defended his PhD entitled “Is Economic
Efficiency the Be-All and End-All of Modern Antitrust
Enforcement? The past, current, and future role of
non-efficiency considerations in the application of
Article 101 TFEU”.
The European Commission’s recent attempts to
redefine the objectives of EU antitrust policy indicates
that an exclusive economic efficiency approach, which
has come to dominate US antitrust law thinking, is
gradually taking hold in Europe. Ben’s dissertation
examines how this development is affecting the role
of non-efficiency considerations (such as cultural
policy considerations, environmental considerations,
and consumer protection considerations) in the
application of Article 101 TFEU.
By tracing the genesis of the exclusive efficiency
approach to EU antitrust enforcement - through
the unique combination of a theoretical, EU/US
comparative, and law in context perspective – his
dissertation uncovers several misconceptions that
underpin it. An in-depth analysis of the European
Commission’s Article 101 TFEU decisional practice
related to the audiovisual sector adds a vertical
dimension to Ben’s research. Two case studies
illustrate how the European Commission has taken
into account considerations that are: (1) related
to the specific characteristics of sport and its
societal function and (2) about access to content
by final consumers when it enjoyed the exclusive
competence to exempt restrictive agreements under
Article 101(3) TFEU.
Under the new enforcement regime of Regulation
1/2003, however, Article 101(3) TFEU became a
directly applicable legal exception. Since 2004,
national competition authorities and national courts
can also apply this provision. In order to avoid that
parochial considerations would be read in Article
101(3) TFEU, the European Commission issued
guidelines that advocate an interpretation of this
exception that narrows its scope to an efficiency
defense. This is a notable example of how the
relatively new slogan “the antitrust rules seek to
enhance economic efficiency and consumer welfare”
is affecting the substantive interpretation of EU
antitrust law.
In his dissertation, Ben argues that a one-sided
efficiency based reconstitution of EU antitrust
law doctrine is inconsistent with the case law of
the EU courts and the demands of the Treaty.
Contrary to what the Commission proclaims,
the objectives structure of EU antitrust policy is
still very much in a state of flux. Furthermore,
he challenges the mainstream view that the
European Commission’s narrower interpretation of
Article 101(3) TFEU marginalises the role of non-
efficiency considerations. Using rigorous analysis,
the dissertation uncovers that there remains
ample scope to give weight to non-efficiency
2(story continued from p. 1)
considerations. Firstly, the Commission shows
great flexibility in allowing firms to ‘translate’
non-efficiency benefits into an efficiency
value. Secondly, six alternative methodologies
are identified that have been used by the
Commission and/or the EU courts to take non-
efficiency considerations (surreptitiously) into
account. Hence, Ben contends that the key
problem lies elsewhere: the Commission’s
new approach and the continued presence of
alternative methodologies obfuscate the role
of non-efficiency considerations. He therefore
suggests an alternative approach to resolve the
tension between efficiency and non-efficiency
values in the future application of Article 101
TFEU.
After defending his PhD Ben was based in
Washington, DC as a visiting fellow at the
Georgetown University Law Center. There he
furthered his research on the evolving role
and purposes of EU and US antitrust law in an
international context and prepared a monograph
based on his doctoral dissertation. For his stay at
Georgetown Law, Ben was awarded the Francqui
Foundation Fellowship of the Belgian American
Educational Foundation (B.A.E.F.). He also served
as a consultant on international antitrust matters
for the Federal Trade Commission.
Information Society
In recent issues of the IES newsletter, we have profiled a member of our
cluster. This trimester, we focus on Marie Lamensch who joined the IES in
October 2009 to work on a PhD which deals with VAT and e-commerce.
Previously, Marie worked as a business lawyer in Brussels and Luxembourg
and as a teaching assistant in contract law at the Université Libre de
Bruxelles. Marie holds a Law Degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles
and a LLM degree in international and European Law from the Vrije
Universiteit Brussel (IES LLM Programme).
In her PhD, Marie analyses the EU VAT provisions
applicable to ‘electronically supplied services’.
These provisions were adopted in the early 2000s to
implement OECD recommendations on e-commerce
taxation.
In little less than two decades, the Internet has
fundamentally changed the way we consume and
do business. Originally developed as a means of
communication for research purposes, it rapidly
turned into a broadly used medium that greatly
facilitated international trade by allowing for the
commercialisation of products in circumstances that
no longer require a degree of physical presence.
At the same time, it supported the creation of
new commercial activities by prompting the
creation of new ‘digital’ products, together with
their own production and distribution schemes.
These elements combined have resulted in a new
commercial and entrepreneurial environment:
‘e-commerce’, where business models are no longer
constrained by geographic distances and borders,
and cross-border supplies have become as easy
to conduct as domestic deals. Although this new
virtual business environment only emerged in the
1990s, it has now become a reality that can no
longer be ignored.
The explosion of e-commerce rapidly revealed
uncertainties for the application of both direct and
indirect taxes to economic activities of a new – virtual
– nature. In her PhD, Marie focuses on the challenges
that arise from the application of VAT to digital
supplies. The intangible nature of these supplies
and the borderless environment in which they occur
indeed fundamentally challenge the functioning
of this traditional form of indirect/consumption
taxes. It does so in several respects, such as the
definition of the tax base, the practical assessment
and collection of the tax, the identification of both
the suppliers and customers in online transactions
and more generally the enforcement of the tax by
the national administrations.
The VAT system chosen for discussion is the EU
VAT system. In her research, Marie intends to
demonstrate that the current EU VAT treatment
of digital supplies - although in line with widely
acknowledged OECD recommendations - suffers
from major flaws, in particular from a practical
viewpoint for taxpayers and protection of tax
revenue for tax authorities, but also in light of the
traditional tax principles of neutrality, efficiency,
certainty, simplicity, fairness, effectiveness and
flexibility.
The second year of Marie’s PhD will be concluded in
February 2012 (Marie has been on maternity leave
from June to September 2010, and has worked on
an external project in August-September 2011,
i.e. the drafting of a proposal for the taxation of
financial transactions that was submitted to the
G-20 members in Cannes last November: “Blueprint
for the implementation of a multilateral and multi-
jurisdictional tax on financial transactions, an
enabling document for discussion”).
Marie plans to finish her PhD by early 2014. Since
joining the IES, Marie has published 6 articles in
well-known journals such as the International VAT
Monitor, EC Tax Review and The Journal of Media
Law.
Postdoctoral Researcher Jamal Shahin has been
taking part in various events over the past few
months.
Jamal was invited to participate as a member of
the jury in Oman’s Annual eGovernment Awards
Scheme: The Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence
in eGovernment. This process took place in Oman
in October 2011, where the weather was a sultry
35 degrees each day. Along with a group of other
academics and practitioners from all over the
world, Jamal helped evaluate some 43 submissions
made by various government entities in Oman.
The winners were announced in a follow up event
in December 2011, where Bill Clinton was invited
to present the awards to the winning government
ministries.
A couple of weeks after this event, Jamal went to
Oslo for a meeting of the EUPERFORM team, where
he presented ideas for his own future research
agenda in the area of EU and multilateral institutions.
This will focus on the telecommunications and
information society policy fields, as he has recently
published in the field (see publications section of
this newsletter).
Closer to home, on 15 November, Jamal
participated in a foresight exercise coordinated
by Pantopicon, a creative vision company based in
Antwerp. Jamal was invited to this small, inspiring
event to provide a policy-relevant perspective on
futures studies, specifically relating to housing,
medicine and food. On 29 November, Jamal was
invited to give a speech at the European Parliament
alongside a group of European Parliamentarians
and other distinguished speakers. He spoke about
the potentials and pitfalls of the use of new media
in engaging citizens in democratic participation.
http://www.primapersona.eu/?p=11.
3
The Citadel Statement Lecture Series organised
by the IES and partially supported by CORVE
(Coordinatiecel Vlaams e-government) was designed
to highlight some of the key challenges for
eGovernment in the EU, from both policy and
research perspectives. We succeeded in bringing
together some of the individuals at the cutting-edge
of the research and policy debates in the field, and
covered topics of vital importance for the realisation
of European objectives in the context of the EU202
and Digital Agenda strategies.
The lecture series raised a number of timely
and pertinent issues relating to the adoption
of eGovernment at the local, European and
international levels. The first couple of lectures
addressed the need to link research and policy, not
only in the ‘technological’ sense, but also in terms
of getting to grips with the societal context in which
public administrations now find themselves.
The following three lectures took relevant key
‘building-block’ policy areas in the European
Commission’s eGovernment Action Plan, and
critically examined different aspects of these:
identity management (as a key enabler for other
services), high-impact services, and national and
international strategy development.
After the European Ministerial Conference on
eGovernment, hosted in Poznan in November 2011,
the IES organised a policy roundtable to reflect upon
the outcomes and impact of the European policy
action on local governments. We subsequently heard
about the European Commission’s ISA Programme,
which provides infrastructure and support for
projects across borders in the EU in order to improve
interaction between Member States in terms of
common services.
The last two lectures focused on the issues of
‘collaboration’, participation, and engagement in
the eGovernment policy debate. Topics such as
living labs, common methodologies for evaluating
citizen satisfaction, and mechanisms to encourage
collaboration were covered. In the final lecture,
delivered by Maria Wimmer, eGovPoliNet project
director, showed one potential model to engage
citizens in one specific aspect of policy making
through ICT-based mechanisms. This demonstrated
the potential for policy making in the future.
From the discussions in various lectures, we have
identified a series of future activities that we think
need to be executed in order to facilitate the further
development of the Citadel Statement, and the
achievement of its goals in the European context.
IES, along with its partner organisations, will work
towards achieving these goals.
Firstly, in spite of the challenges of measurement,
there is a need to assess the progress in several
key areas of activity in relation to the Citadel
Statement goals. It would be apt, based upon the
Citadel Statement’s goals and objectives, to develop
measurement tools to examine further the state of
play (and progress) in Flanders. This set of indicators
should be identified and measured with care, to
ensure that good practices and experiences can be
integrated into a review of progress over time, and
in the different public services.
Secondly, in the context of EU-level policy and
political discussions, Open Data has emerged as
a key issue for public administrations. Whilst such
statements at the European level are noteworthy,
and indeed commendable, there is a need to
understand how Open Data policies can actually
be realised at national, regional, and local levels.
During several occasions in the lectures, we heard
that there were challenges to this at the local level,
including issues of management of open data, legal
frameworks to release the data, and use of the data
by third parties. A short report, detailing challenges
for opening up data sources, along with a high-level
event building on the Citadel Statement Lecture
Series will be carried out in the forthcoming months.
Thirdly, given the vivid and flourishing discussion
surrounding the issues of engagement and
participation in democratic decision making and
service delivery, it may be opportune to engage
with various stakeholders (academics, civil society,
politicians and civil servants) from across Europe
to try to facilitate understanding of what is meant
by ‘engagement in the digital age’. Many of these
discussions seem to revolve around citizens as
consumers of democratic practices, when they
should perhaps identify the democratic process as
a deliberative one. At the local level we have seen
that there are a myriad of ways to engage citizens in
such processes. A one-day event on such a subject,
bringing actors from all corners of Europe, may help
bridge the gaps between rhetoric, vision, and reality.
A complete list of the lectures, including a selection
of videos, is available at http://www.ies.be/
autumnlectures2011/
Keep track of http://www.ies.be/research/
informationsociety/ for follow ups to the Lecture
Series. Feel free to contact [email protected] for
more information about this and other eGovernment
issues.
AutumnLecture Series
4Environment Sustainable Development
CORPUS Housing events kick off in Helsinki
Transatlantic cooperation on accessing (sustainably sourced) raw materials
On Tuesday 25 October 2011, IES hosted a policy
forum event, jointly organised by the environment
and sustainable development cluster and the foreign
and security policy cluster, and in cooperation
with the Institute for European Environmental
Policy (IEEP). The event focused on “transatlantic
cooperation on accessing (sustainably sourced)
raw materials”.
Mr Paul Anciaux of DG Enterprise and Industry at
the European Commission opened the discussion
with remarks on the general and global importance
of raw materials for the EU, and provided examples
of the myriad of uses for these materials in every
day appliances. He spoke of the EU Commission’s
“Raw materials initiative”, that presented a three-
pillar structure for coping with limited access to
essential raw materials, namely: (1) promoting a
fair and sustainable supply from global markets;
(2) fostering the sustainable supply of raw materials
from EU sources; and (3) boosting resource
efficiency within the EU and promoting recycling
of critical raw materials. The EU has identified 14
so-called “critical materials”.
Ms Ashley Miller and Mr Kevin Opstrup from the
US Mission to the EU complemented Mr Anciaux’s
presentation by discussing the US perspective on
accessing raw materials. There is a wide-range of
New Research Project: “Understanding
the Changing Performance of the
European Union in International
Environmental and Climate
Governance” (Research Foundation
Flanders - FWO)
The above project was successful in the very
competitive 2011 application round for FWO
research projects and is to run from 2012-2016. It
will be associated with the international network
on “The performance of the EU in international
institutions” (www.ies.be/euperform).
The project (promoter: IES Academic Director
Sebastian Oberthür) aims to explain variation of
European Union (EU) performance in international
environmental governance over time and across
issue areas. It first assesses and compares the
changing performance of the EU, since the early
1990s, in two core issue areas of international
environmental governance: climate change and
the protection of biological diversity. In both
cases, proclaimed ‘EU leadership’ has seen
varying levels of success over time and across
the issue areas. Core elements of performance
(a concept to be further unfolded during the
first project phase) include: (1) the EU’s impact
on international decision-making and (2) its
‘relevance’ for the EU member states, including
its ability to speak with one voice. In order
to explain variation in the EU’s performance,
the main focus of the project will then be on
exploring a set of explanatory factors derived
from different theoretical schools, including
power, interests, ideas/identity/knowledge/
values, and institutional settings. By addressing
the question of why the EU’s performance in
international environmental governance has
varied across time and issue areas, the project
will also make a significant contribution to
current academic debates about the major
factors that shape the EU’s ‘actorness’, role
and influence in international institutions,
multilateralism, and international affairs at large.
An international vacancy for a PhD researcher was
launched in late 2011 and the new researcher is
expected to start during the first half of 2012.
activity in the United States’ executive and legislative
branches on raw materials policy. For example,
the Department of Energy released a study on the
domestic impact of potential shortages in access
to rare earths for segments of the clean energy
sector. This study analysed five rare earth metals.
In addition, their presentation specifically discussed
some of the measures under discussion in the US
to deal with materials sourced from conflict regions
(so-called ‘conflict minerals’). These are identified
by the US as gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten
sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo
and its nine neighbouring countries. Much emphasis
on this issue is laid on future reporting measures
from companies who are publicly traded in the US
and source one or more of these minerals from the
region, and public-private initiatives that could help
develop conflict-free supply chains.
The speakers addressed several questions from
the audience on the public-private partnerships
on accessing conflict-free raw materials; on what
materials were covered by the raw materials
initiatives; and on the environmental credentials
of the raw materials initiatives. In answer to this
latter question, the speakers highlighted that
global price-rises place priority on the access to
these raw materials, but that the sustainability of
this access should nevertheless be ensured. Other
questions from the audience addressed the issue
of recycling, and how waste materials could be
processed to extract re-usable raw materials. This
specifically addressed the feasibility of a proposed
global recycling certificate scheme. A final question
highlighted that the EU and the US may diverge
on their assessment of the importance of raw
materials for the defence industry, on which the US
in particular places a great emphasis.
The 1st Housing Workshop of the CORPUS project
took place on 24 and 25 November in Helsinki
at the premises of the Finnish Ministry of the
Environment. This Workshop was the first in a series
of three workshops on “knowledge brokerage”:
the linking of policy makers and researchers in
sustainable housing, and it followed the first
two CORPUS Workshops series on food and on
mobility. The Mobility Workshop focused on
“Facts, Trends, Objectives, Actors and Systems”.
Around 45 participants including a mix of policy
makers, researchers and civil society representatives
from all over Europe engaged in one and a half
days of intense discussion of ideas and the latest
developments in sustainable housing policy and
practice. IES researcher Alex Daniell introduced
the CORPUS website which has been developed at
the institute by Harri Kalimo, Olof Soebech, Klaas
Chielens and Alex himself.
The specific aims of the workshop were:
• to set the stage by identifying the main issues
in sustainable housing
• to start to develop a common understanding
of the domain by elaborating system maps of
sustainable housing
• to discuss policy strategies for sustainable
housing at EU and national levels
• to provide an opportunity for European policy
makers and researchers to network
• to enable learning of innovative forms and
methods of effective knowledge brokerage
www.scp-knowledge.eu
Further information on transatlantic cooperation can
be found, for example, through the Transatlantic
Economic Council. Under this Council, the United
States and European Union have developed a work
plan on cooperation which can be accessed on:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/
january/tradoc_147173.pdf
5
In 2011,Olof Soebech, former researcher of the IES
started a project, with the help of IES, on sustainable
lifestyles entitled ‘Everyday Stories’. The premises
for the project are the two assumptions that: most
people are quite well informed about environmental
and social issues; and that most people also care
about these issues. No one wants a poor child
to make their sport shoes. No one wants to eat
pesticides. No one wants to live in a polluted,
unfriendly city.
Therefore, the questions triggering the project were:
If we know and we care, what is going wrong? Why
are we stuck in non-sustainable lifestyles? What is
a meaningful and sustainable life? How do we get
there? While searching for answers, inspiration,
and real life positive stories, Olof interviewed around 40 individuals
who have found their own ways to lead sustainable lifestyles. These
individuals are very different, but they share some common features:
they all live in European cities; they are not extremists or marginalised
environmental fanatics; but ordinary people who are true to the
concept of sustainability in most of their actions, work, life, and travel.
The subjects of the project are people who have at least begun to
define meaningful and sustainable lives, albeit at a
very personal level.
Last August the website www.everydaystories.be
was launched, featuring stories of three individuals.
The website tells the stories of ten people from
seven different cities. The website makes use of
short film, photos and text to give an introduction
to the person, to show who they are and what it is
that they do that makes them special. A new story is
added every three weeks or so, and the idea is that
in the future, the website will represent a plethora
of information on the many ways sustainability can
be and is being reached. The site targets people
who care and who would like to do more, but feel
stuck and overwhelmed, making it hard to change
their behaviour. Most of all, www.everydaystories.be
aims to give inspiration and to provide real solutions
based on people’s experiences. With the diversity of
stories, everyone who is interested should be able
to find some inspiration.
Policy Forum: Europe Interconnected?
On 7 November the Environmental Cluster’s
long term associate researcher Thomas Sattich
organised a policy forum on Europe’s electricity
network and its potential contribution to further
growth of renewable energy. One of the main
challenges in this respect is the structure of the
European power transmission system, which
has not been designed to enable large-scale use
of renewables, but still reflects the carbon and
nuclear era.
The meeting was chaired by the Sebastian
Oberthür, Academic Director of the IES, and
featured three speakers from different branches
of the European climate and energy community:
Tom Howes, Deputy Head of Unit Renewables and
CCS policy, DG Energy, European Commission;
Jesse Scott, Energy and Climate Programme
Director of demosEUROPA - Centre for European
Strategy; Mark Johnston, Senior Policy Adviser WWF
European Policy Office.
After Sebastian’s introduction, Tom Howes put
the issue of the European electricity network in
the broader perspective of European Climate and
Energy Policy, i.e. energy efficiency, the development
of renewable energy and the internal market for
electricity. To make an up-to-date, interconnected
European energy system reality the EU has to tip
the balance, both in respect to market failure (by
financial incentives) and permitting (by reducing
administrative barriers).
Jesse Scott highlighted the importance of energy
infrastructure regarding EU’s decarbonisation
agenda, the 3rd internal market package and
solidarity in energy policy. From a national
perspective she outlined the problems to get
particular infrastructure projects implemented,
e.g. sensitivity of energy policy (subsidiarity),
permitting procedures and access to finance.
Mark Johnston underlined the importance of the
implementation of the 3rd internal market package
which implies the development of infrastructure
to bring a European market for energy to life.
Renewable energy business is keen on new
infrastructure, incumbent are rather reluctant.
The WWF regards the development of smart grids
to be of greater importance than the construction
of a ‘super grid’.
Q&A brought up questions on the coherence of
EU’s climate and energy policy, Carbon Capture
Storage (CCS), the varying priorities of different
industry sectors, the impact of the financial crisis
on energy and climate policy, the connection
between the European Emissions Trading System
ETS and CCS, public acceptance of infrastructure
measures (NIMBY), time schedulend financial
incentives. The event was considered as a success
by all parties.
www.everydaystories.be
Environmental Law lectures recognised
by European Commission
The IES course EU Environmental Law in an
International Context , taught by Sebastian
Oberthür and Harri Kalimo has received support
from the European Commission as a ‘Jean
Monnet Module’. Lectures will start in February.
The intense lectures are to be complemented
with interactive role play. The role play explores
the intricacies of public international law by
conducting a case study of environmental
decision making in the EU. The course is part
of the IES post-graduate LLM on European and
International Law (affectionately referred to
in-house as PILC), but is open to students from
other VUB faculties and other universities. Prof.
Kalimo will also start his lectures on the other
IES postgraduate programme, the EuroMaster,
on interest representation in the EU internal
market. These lectures also have a built in
environmental angle.
6European Foreign & Security Policy
IES co-organises brainstorming seminar on the
EU’s security strategy
Since the initial formulation of the European
Security Strategy (ESS) in 2003 as well as its 2008
implementation report, policy-makers and analysts
alike have debated the utility, state of play, and
future prospects for a EU strategy – a question that
is becoming increasingly urgent. Not only because
the ten-year anniversary of the initial ESS would be a
fitting moment for review and, perhaps, the launch
of a renewed strategy, but also because the geo-
political, institutional, global and regional security
environment has confronted the EU and its member
states with new security challenges that need to
be addressed in a changing and less prosperous
environment.
In order to explore the substance and process
of policy formulation, the IES through its EFSP
cluster co-hosted, together with Egmont and the
Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an informal
brainstorming seminar on 21-22 November 2011,
attended by 26 experts, as well as national, EEAS
and Council officials. The seminar consisted of four
sessions that were chaired by Prof. Dr Eva Gross,
Prof. Dr Sven Biscop and Marc Otte of the Belgian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Session 1 assessed the implementation of the 2003
European Security Strategy to explore whether the
EU had really become more active, more capable and
more coherent over the past decade. The discussion
raised a number of issues, but agreement emerged
around a number of points – namely, that a common
strategic vision of an EU with 27 member states is
less likely to achieve. A broader foreign policy and
security agenda, however, means a broader view
on the EU’s external relations including potential
threats but also the EU’s values and objectives. This
in turn calls for prioritisation and perhaps a number
of sectoral discussions to feed into the broader
strategy formulation. A continuous “strategic
process” could ensure that strategic objectives are
translated into priorities and actions. Participants
also emphasised that a strategy also has an
important function as a narrative, and a benchmark
to judge action – and debated whether the current
Euro-crisis could drive a new wave of integration in
foreign and security policy.
After this internal scene-setter, Session 2 (which
included a presentation by Dr Luis Simon) looked
at the impact of the evolving geopolitical context.
This session emphasised the ongoing trend of
interpolarity, which features an increasing number
of great powers that are structurally interdependent.
Eva Gross participates
in EUISS Washington
Forum, d iscusses
Responsib i l i ty to
Protect (R2P)
On 27 October SRF Eva Gross travelled
to Washington, DC to attend the annual
Washington Forum organised by the EU
Institute for Security Studies, the EU’s own
think tank. The 2011 Forum addressed the
ongoing political and societal changes in the
Arab world, their implications for regional
stability and prospective roles for the EU and
the US in supporting the region’s development.
It was attended by a group of renowned experts
and policy-makers from both sides of the
Atlantic. Besides panel sessions that featured
high-level officials (including Philipp Gordon,
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian
Affairs, US Department of State and Pierre
Vimont, Executive Secretary-General, European
External Action Service), informal working
sessions dealt with more specific issues.
Eva chaired one of the working sessions,
entitled ‘Protecting citizens: international
cooperation in times of crisis’, to which
Dr Henning Rieke (DGAP, Berlin) provided
analytical input as a basis for discussion.
The session addressed the emerging norm
of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the
challenges inherent in its implementation,
but also the need for coordination among
numerous actors – international, governmental
and non-governmental – in crisis management,
evacuation or possibly military interventions.
In the run-up to the Forum, Eva also contributed
to an EUISS online debate between selected
journalists, academics, think tankers and policy
makers that explored and examined the effects
of the Arab Spring on the EU and the US.
Eva Gross at Trier University
On 14 November 2011 Eva spoke at a Research
Colloquium at the University of Trier on the
subject of ‘EU-US cooperation in international
crisis management: towards transatlantic
burden sharing’. Her talk analysed in particular
emerging patterns of cooperation in the civilian
aspects of crisis management against the
background of growing civilian capabilities in
the EU but also in the US - and provided an
assessment of the place of such cooperation
in the broader transatlantic security structure.
NATO’s role in conflict prevention?
On 16-17 November 2011, Eva participated
in a workshop to explore any potential role
for NATO in conflict prevention. While it is
evident that crisis management roles and
capabilities remain essential elements in
international security, this workshop sought
to explore how these capabilities could be
employed in a crisis prevention role. Along
with other civilian experts from the fields of
think tanks, academia and the private sector,
Eva discussed and formulated recommendations
on building partnership and relationship with
other organisations and actors as a key element
in developing and approaching such a role.
Back in Washington, DC – Eva Gross launches
book on Conflict prevention and crisis
management
On 6 December Eva was back in Washington, DC
to participate in a book launch of ‘Preventing
Conflict, Managing Crisis: European and
American Perspectives’ that had been co-
edited by Eva, Daniel Hamilton (SAIS-Center
for Transatlantic Relations), Claudia Major
(German Institute for International and Security
Affairs) and Henning Riecke (German Council
of Foreign Relations). The launch event
addressed a number of questions analysed in
the publication, including: how effective have
recent international efforts been at preventing
conflict and managing crisis, and how could
such efforts be improved? What are the most
effective means by which transatlantic efforts
could be achieved? How best to engage other
partners? The volume also includes a ‘Crisis
Management Toolbox’ that outlines the key
principles, actors and instruments guiding
such efforts.
The event included a key note address by John
Herbst, Director, Center for Complex Operations
(CCO), National Defense University (and former
Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization
(S/CRS), US Department of State) that outlined
the emerging civilian capabilities as well as
coordination mechanisms for crisis response –
and their sustainability in the current economic
climate. Other presentations included lessons
learned from post-conflict institution-building
and governance in Afghanistan, as well as a
practitioner’s perspective from Karsten Geier of
the EU mission to the UN on EU-UN cooperation
in international crisis management.
7This interdependence implies that powers have
an interest in at least a minimum level of global
governance – and it was felt that herein lies an
opportunity for the EU, which can use its power
to convene, to co-opt and to connect. At the
same time, military power remains important as
an element of strategic autonomy, and a means
of enhancing the credibility and effectiveness of
the other dimensions of EU power. This in turn
raises questions about the institutional venue of
European contributions to crisis management and
international security, and the degree to which
these take place under an EU label.
Sessions 3 and 4, finally, assessed the priority
issue for any update and review of the EU’s strategic
priorities and the process of drafting, scope and
ownership of the new strategy, respectively. As
for priorities, participants agreed that these are
greatly determined by events but can also be set
in advance – and this is in turn to a great extent
shaped by reference to values, by institutional issues
and by the potential impact of external factors on
internal development. Still, rather than seeking
consensus on all imaginable issues of foreign policy
participants agreed that strategic reflection should
aim to identify a limited set of priorities. With a
view to broad and public legitimacy, more attention
should be paid to generating a public debate in each
of the Member States.
EFSP Researchers on Study Trip to Korea and China
In the first half of November 2011, three
researchers of the EFSP cluster undertook a joint
study trip to East Asia. In the context of the
“Institutionalising EU-Korea Cooperation” (IEKC)
project, Dr Luis Simon, Dr Alexander Mattelaer
and Anna Stahl participated in two workshops in
Seoul. Afterwards, they continued their journey to
China, where they conducted numerous interviews
for research purposes and – incidentally – also
enjoyed copious quantities of Beijing roast duck.
The primary purpose of the trip was to visit
the Korean partner universities in the IEKC
project, Sogang University’s Graduate School
of International Studies and the EU Centre at
the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Both
institutions hosted a workshop for their students
and research staff where Luis, Anna and Alexander
presented some of their recent work that touched
on Asian security issues. Luis gave a presentation
that looked at the implications of the rise of Asia
for European geopolitics and outlined a European
geostrategy around the concept of offshore
balancing. Anna presented a comparative study
of the EU’s and China’s security strategies vis-à-
vis the African continent. She stressed that the
conventional wisdom of two competing security
models is inaccurate and that Brussels and Beijing
are in fact pursuing increasingly converging
security interests. Alexander in turn gave a talk
focusing on the European participation in the
NATO-led Afghanistan campaign. Even if this
out-of-area mission highlighted stark difference
of opinion amongst Alliance members, the ISAF
mission still helped to cement a new understanding
of the Alliance, namely as a security network and
as a military service provider. Academic matters
aside, the EFSP team was treated to the famous
‘Korean barbeque’ experience and even tasted
some of that divine Korean Hanwoo beef. They also
discovered, however, that consumption of Korean
rice wine is better left to real Koreans.
One does not travel to East Asia without making a
stopover in China. Anna, Luis and Alexander spent
several days in Beijing, where they conducted
interviews for broadening their research horizon,
or – in Anna’s case – in direct support of their
ongoing work. This brought them as visitors
to the EU delegation, the embassies of various
EU member states and the US embassy (not to
mention the obligatory cultural stops at the
Forbidden Palace and the National Museum
of China). They also participated in a seminar
hosted by the China Institute of Contemporary
International Relations (CICIR) where they
discussed contemporary European politics and
the changing international role of China with
a set of local researchers. The poor air quality
in Beijing could only be compensated by the
smoking of Cuban cigars, the consumption of
outstanding sushi and, of course, Beijing duck.
While Anna remained in Beijing for field research
for her PhD, Luis and Alexander proceeded to
visit Shanghai
(where, it must
be said, Luis
nearly lost his
hear t ) . They
v i s i t e d t h e
V U B ’ s l o c a l
partner – Tongji
Un i ve r s i t y –
w h e r e t h e y
r e c e i v e d a
warm welcome
and discussed
recent developments in Chinese foreign policy.
Standing on top of the Shanghai World Financial
Center Observatory,
it became clear to
them the world is
indeed changing
rapidly – but not
necessa r i l y f o r
the better. If the
purpose of travel is
to open one’s eyes,
the EFSP cluster did
not blink.
Feedback received throughout and after the end
of the seminar was extremely fruitful, with the
general feeling that further debate and analysis
would be beneficial, timely and necessary. Future
debates could address: the role of EU foreign
policy; the substance of a new ESS or sub-strategies
for individual policy sectors with a view to the EU’s
relationships to the great powers; the future shape
of the multilateral architecture; more specific
processes and methods for strategic reflection by
means of public events to encourage wider input;
and a number of publications to maintain visibility
and engagement with this important issue.
8EDU Educational Development Unit
Alina @ the 4th International Conference on
Interactive Computer Aided Blended Learning in
Guatemala City and Antigua
During 2-4 November 2011 Alina took part in the 4th
International Conference on Interactive Computer
Aided Blended Learning in Guatemala City and
Antigua. At the conference, Alina presented a joint
paper written together with Alexandra, “Teaching
European Studies: A Blended Learning Approach”.
The panel consisted of three presentations on
blended learning. Alina’s presentation focused
on the mix of educational methods used by the
IES in teaching EU matters including trainings, the
E-Modules and webinars. The presenters addressed
best practices and the challenges of using blended
learning. Moreover, Alina participated in a panel
discussion on best practices and challenges of
e-learning together with the Presidents of the
International Association of Online Engineering
and the IEEE Education Society. Afterwards she was
interviewed by a representative of Galileo University.
Teaching EU in schools
The Educational Development Unit is
happy to announce that it won a bid worth
60,000 Euros under the Lifelong Learning
Programme/Jean Monnet Programme
for the learning EU at school activities
with the title “Bridging the Gap: Improving EU
Teaching”. The project will run for one year and
incorporates the blended learning approach of the
IES with regard to teacher education. Envisaged
activities are a two-day Jean Monnet Teacher
Training workshop, two-day Jean Monnet Student
Seminars on European Integration including a
simulation game, webinars on Best Practice in
Reaching EU, a new online module: “Teaching
EU for Teachers” as well as a handbook on best
practices in teaching EU.
BREAKING NEWS
IES ONLINE MODULES ACCREDITED!
The EDU team is happy to announce that as of 1 January 2012, the EU modules, together
with the Summer School, are accredited by the VUB as part of a new Postgraduate Certificate
on European Policy-making. The online modules, which gained a new look and brand
identity in 2011, will be worth between 3 and 6 ECTS, according to their content, and the
Summer School will weigh 5 ECTS. We are very excited to fully put our Blended Learning
approach into practice, reinforcing the already existing value and expertise of our courses
with a mix of study tools and teaching methods. While allowing for the flexibility of online
learning, our new programme offers a profound and critical overview and experience of
the functioning of the European Union.
Decoding the EU: institutions and decision-
making: IES Online Course, Spring 2012
EDU launches its first online webinar course in
spring next year “Decoding the EU: Institutions
and Decision-Making” consisting of four
different webinars.
• An online crash course designed for
professionals seeking an advanced
understanding of the EU institutions and
decision-making
• An interactive and user-friendly learning
environment that brings together academics
and practitioners in EU affairs
• Mix of synchronous and asynchronous online
learning, using state-of-the-art pedagogy and
learning tools.
European Commission
Learn about the role, composition and functioning
of the European Commission and understand its
power as policy initiator.
Council of Ministers and European Council
UPCOMING WEBINARS
9Wednesday Webinars
On 14 September, EDU launched the IES Wednesday Webinar Series. The goal of the webinars is to break
down barriers such as location and time constraints that could otherwise make attendance of IES seminars
difficult, and at times even impossible. Given the hectic schedules of professionals and students alike, the
Webinars conveniently take place over the lunch hour, from 12-13:15. All you need to attend is a laptop,
some lunch and of course an internet connection. So far, the EDU has conducted four webinars on various
topics including state aid, Taiwan’s status in international relations, the role of China as a superpower
and the Jean Monnet webinar “Dilemmas of Defining the EU”.
On 26 October, the webinar ‘China: a strange
superpower in the making’ was hosted by Prof. Dr.
Gustaaf Geeraerts, Director of BICCS.
Prof. Geeraerts stressed that China is no longer the
developing country it once was. Beijing’s weight in
global affairs is mounting by the day as it stands at
the helm of the world’s most successful economy
and displays ever more financial prowess. In the past
30 years the Chinese economy has quadrupled in
size and some expect it to double again over the
next decade. China’s military clout is equally on
the rise. In 2008 it evolved into the world’s second
highest military spender. On these accounts China is
increasingly perceived as the only country emerging
as both a military and economic rival of the US and
thus generating a fundamental shift in the global
distribution of power and influence.
While this is true, China still faces many weaknesses
and challenges. Its military power, in spite of rapid
modernisation, continues to lag behind the US.
Notwithstanding the enormous progress since the
launch of the economic reforms, China’s per capita
GDP just exceeds 3,000 US dollars, ranking 104th
in the world. Uneven development is a problem;
many rural and remote areas remain very poor.
135 million people are living on less than a dollar
a day and 10 million have no access to electricity.
The great unknown is whether China’s successful
trajectory is sustainable over the decades to come.
25/01 Terrorist Finance Tracking:
Any Privacy Left?
22/02 The new Multiannual Financial
Framework of the EU at the outset of inter-
institutional negotiations”
07/03 ‘Quo vadis EU: EU Foreign Policy
Vehicles and the Near Neighbourhood’
25/04 ‘Quo vadis EU: The EU
Abroad in the World’
Whatever the outcome, China is most likely to be a
strange superpower.
Prof. Dr. Amelia Hadfield, Dr. Alexander Mattelaer
and Katja Biedenkopf hosted the first ‘Quo Vadis
EU’ webinar: ‘The dilemma of definitions’ one of
four webinars in the Jean Monnet Webinar Series.
Between 2011-2012, there will be four special
webinars added to the Wednesday Webinar Series.
Featuring topics on institutions, decision-making
and key foreign policy issues and areas, the ‘Quo
Vadis EU’ webinars will form the interactive and
online component of the IES’ newly established
graduate Jean Monnet module.
The broad objective of ‘Quo Vadis EU’ is to examine
the foreign policy direction of the EU, locally,
regionally and globally. As a key module within
the IES EuroMaster curriculum, the ‘Quo Vadis EU’
module will run for three years, and is designed to
stimulate teaching and research in the area of EU
foreign policy, while contributing to the quality of
EU learning in both mainstream academia, and the
non-academic community, in Brussels and beyond.
Under the aegis of lifelong learning, each Jean
Monnet Wednesday Webinar allows participants
to benefit from the Jean Monnet commitment to
excellence and life-long learning directly from their
computer.
Learn about the composition of both the Council
of Ministers and the European Council and their
role in EU policy-making.
European Parliament
An overview of the powers, structures and
functioning of the European Parliament.
Inter-institutional decision-making
A guide to the EU decision-making procedure,
with a focus on the ordinary legislative procedure
(former co-decision).
EU in Close-up
In October, the EDU organised another session
of the ‘EU in Close-up’ intensive seminar on EU
institutions and policy process. As in previous years,
the seminar attracted participants from various
backgrounds, ranging from the corporate world
and NGOs to international organisations, European
institutions and academia. During the in-depth
three day seminar, topics such as the functioning of
European institutions, the inter-institutional decision
making, comitology, and lobbying were discussed in
detail by academics and practitioners. The training
course takes an interactive approach, illustrating
the theoretical knowledge with practical examples
and case studies.
Hendrix
For the third year in a row, a group of students from
Hendrix College, US, will come to Brussels for a
semester abroad with the aim of learning about how
the European Union works and experience it first
hand. For the first time, the IES joined forces with
Vesalius College in order to offer the ten students
a comprehensive and enjoyable introductory week
that takes between the 10-15 January. The students
will then follow the EU REDUX course, which has
been specially developed for them and provides a
comprehensive overview of the major facets of the
European Union: its foundations, its institutions, its
decision-making methods, its core public policies
and its developing foreign policies.
10Migration Diversity
Policy Forum -The European modules on migrant
integration: an added value for the Member
States?
In 2007, the Justice and Home Affairs Council
invited the National Contact Points for integration,
supported by the Commission to “examine the added
value of developing common European modules on
migrant integration”. The recently published draft
contains proposals or ‘best practices’ on three such
draft modules, namely introductory and language
courses, strong commitment by the receiving society
and active participation of immigrants in all aspects
of social live.
On Friday 21 October the migration cluster of the
IES hosted a policy forum on these draft modules
on migrant integration and their possible added
value for the Member States. The policy forum was
co-organised with the Belgian National Contact Point
for Integration (Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Opposition to Racism) and CEDEM, Université de
Liège. Invited speakers were Ms Eva Schultz (DG
Home, European Commission), Mr Didier Boone
(National Contact Point Integration, Belgium), Prof.
Dr Marco Martiniello (FNRS/CEDEM - Université
de Liège), Dr Sergio Carrera (Centre for European
Policy Studies).
Eva Schultz underlined the Commission’s limited
room for manoeuvre; it has no specific legal basis
to harmonise integration policies but is able “to
give support and incentives” in order to exchange
best practice.
Didier Boone informed us of the inclusive and
bottom-up process which led to the drafting of the
modules’ text. Marco Martiniello and Sergio Carrera
then critically assessed the added value of the future
modules and raised meta-questions preceding the
drafting of the texts. Marco Martiniello favoured an
EU philosophy of integration, stating that we lack an
explicit definition of what integration means. Sergio
Carrera was concerned about the possible abuse
of the modules by the Member States to legitimise
national practice which use compulsory integration
courses to limit third country nationals’ rights to
family reunification, residence and social security.
Questions from the audience mainly responded to
the worry of seeing the MS misusing the modules
for legitimizing national policies.
This Policy Forum will be the first of a continuing
policy debate in IES on integration policy.
Workshop ‘European Integration
and consensus politics in the Low
Countries’.
On 14-15 October, post-doctoral
researcher Ilke Adam participated in
the last of a series workshops, entitled
“European Integration and Consensus
Politics in the Low Countries.” The
workshops are organised by Jan
Beyers (Universiteit Antwerpen), Hans
Vollaard (Universiteit Leiden) and
Patrick Dumont (Université du Luxembourg), and
are aimed at publishing an edited volume under
the same title (in the Routledge series, Europe and
the Nation-State).
During the workshops, authors presented a
penultimate draft of the chapter they will contribute
to the book. Together with Maarten Vink (Maastricht
University) and Saskia Bonjour (Université Libre
de Bruxelles), Ilke will contribute a chapter to this
volume, entitled ‘European integration, consensus
politics and family migration policy in Belgium and
the Netherlands’. The chapter assesses several
propositions regarding the link between EU
integration and consensus politics in the field of
family reunification. In particular, the case study on
the EU family reunification directive of 2003 analyses
whether the compromise text had a tendency to
allow the imposition of domestic preferences while
transposing the directive into national law and if
consensus politics weakened or strengthened this
tendency.
More information at http:/ /www.ies.be/conference2012
Conference themes:
The EU and International Institutions: Theories, Processes, Actors
The EU in a Globalizing World: Policy Dimensions
The Interplay between EU Member States, the
EU and International Affairs
Interregionalism and Bilateral Relations of the EU
The European Union inInternational Affairs
3 r d I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e
Brussels • 3 - 5 May 2012
Paleis der Academiën
11Cem completed and
submitted the f i rst
draft of his second
PhD essay to his PhD
committee, entit led
“The Effect of Foreign
D i r e c t I n v e s t m e n t
o n L a b o r I n c o m e :
Evidence from OECD
Countries”. The paper
investigates whether and to what extent Foreign
Direct Investment affects the average wage and the
statutory minimum wage rates in OECD countries
by using empirical methods.
A shortened version of the paper was sent to the
FREIT Conference, 15-17 March 2012, Tokyo-Japan
to be considered for presentation. In addition, the
paper is under revision for submission to a journal.
Cem has started working on a research paper called
“FDI, Institutions and Growth: Evidence from BRICS
and Turkey”. He has been preparing the paper for
the ‘Annual Conference on International Political
Economy: Challenges to the Welfare State’, 23-25
May 2012, Izmir-Turkey.
Senior research fellow
Selen Guerin presented
her research at the
A n n u a l E u r o p e a n
Economics Association
meeting in Oslo. The
EEA meetings are among
the la rgest annua l
conferences in Europe,
with hundreds of papers
presented covering several sub-fields of economics
and econometrics. Selen presented her work on the
‘Legal Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment’.
This paper was inspired by earlier results on related
research on bilateral investment treaties and
expanded her research by covering both domestic
and international aspects of legal environment. The
study presents empirical analysis on the impact
of domestic property rights on attracting foreign
direct investment flows to developing countries.
Main results indicate that developed-country
investors do not take domestic property rights in
the host country into account when choosing a
location. However, as they are highly sensitive to
the risk of expropriation by the host government,
capital-exporting countries prefer to sign bilateral
investment treaties with developing countries.
A revised version of this paper has now been
published as IES working paper, entitled “Law and
Foreign Direct Investment”.
Selen was interviewed by the TRT1 (main public
TV station in Turkey) on the prospects of Turkey
successfully completing negotiations and becoming
an EU member. Currently, EU-Turkey negotiations
are progressing slowly if at all and with the Cyprus
presidency it is doubtful that much else can be
achieved.
In October, the economics cluster held a successful
and well-attended book launch of the recent IES book
on “On the Road to EU Membership: The Economic
Transformation of Turkey”, an edited volume by
Selen Sarisoy Guerin and Ioannis Stivachtis. The
keynote speech was delivered by Egemen Bagis,
Turkey’s Minister for the EU and chief negotiator.
Selen spent three months at the Research Department
of the National Bank of Belgium working on her own
project: ‘Internationalisation patterns of Belgian
Multinationals and their impact on Belgian firms
competitiveness’.
Dr. Alexander Mattelaer : How Afghanistan has Strengthened NATO
(Thu, 2011-12-01 in: The International Institute for Strategic Studies)
Dr. Sigrid Winkler : Biding Time: The Challenge of Taiwan’s International Status
(Thu, 2011-11-17 in: The Brookings Institution)
Dr. Ben van Rompuy : Sport & EU - Analysis of the Murphy case (Mon, 2011-11-14 in: Sport & EU)
Dr. Sigrid Winkler : The End of the Road for Taiwan’s Participation in International Organizations?
(Thu, 2011-11-03 in: Ballots & Bullets)
Anna Stahl : The Impact of China’s Rise on the EU’s Geopolitical Reach and Interests in Africa
(Tue, 2011-11-01 in: EUROPEAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REVIEW)
Dr. Selen Sarisoy Guerin : Interview by TRT 1 on The future of EU and Turkey relations
(Tue, 2011-10-11 in: TRT)
Dr. Sigrid Winkler: an article about Taiwan’s upcoming elections was published in University of
Nottingham’s blog: http://nottspolitics.org/?s=sigrid
Dr. Sigrid Winkler: a further article about Taiwan’s elections was published in University of Nottingham’s blog:
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/2011/12/23/a-ground-view-from-taipei/
IES in the media
European Economy
12
Restructuring the Institute
The first Tuesday of December marked the start of
a thorough restructuring of the IES. In our quest
for more autonomy, triggered by the international
committee that audited the IES on behalf of the
Flemish Ministry, the IES submitted its five-year
strategy, a statutes change and a request for so-
called ZAP status to the University Council. On 6
December, the University Council approved these
documents, which were prepared and negotiated
for more than a year at various university levels and
with the Ministry.
A new strategy for the IES
According to the agreement between the Flemish
Government and the VUB, the IES has to submit a
five-year plan with each contract prolongation. IES
Management, Senior Research Fellows and a number
of selected research and admin staff prepared this
extensive document at a two-day strategy meeting.
These ‘away days’ served as the basis for the
Strategic Plan 2011-2015, adopted by the IES Board
in October, and endorsed by the VUB Council on 6
December.
The new strategy builds on the previous one and
takes into account the different obligations as set
out in the Government Agreement (e.g. start two
PhD projects per year). Its overall objectives are
to consolidate and further advance the IES as an
internationally recognised centre of excellence for
European Studies, substantially focusing its research
on the EU in an international context (in line with the
IES Research Strategy). The IES will further integrate
its high-quality teaching portfolio (building on
its two specialised Master programmes), and will
maximise cooperation and synergy across different
work areas and disciplines and between education,
research, and academic services. To this end, the
IES will review its existing focus areas (or so-called
‘clusters’) in the near future. More information about
this will follow in a subsequent newsletter.
The IES Strategic Plan 2011-2016 also foresees
the enhancement of management capacity. As an
immediate action, IES Management published a
vacancy for a part-time (50%) Assistant Director for
which Dr. Alexander Mattelaer has recently been
selected. Dr. Mattelaer will assist IES Academic
Director Sebastian Oberthür with the overall
academic oversight of the Institute.
ZAP status for our Senior Academics
Since its inception in 2001, the IES has suffered
from a relative ‘handicap’, i.e. it was not able to
appoint full professors, or “ZAP”, as they are called
in (Flemish) academic terms. ZAP, or “Zelfstandig
Academisch Personeel” is the body of full professors
who are able to work autonomously. ZAP, in contrast
to other types of academic personnel, can promote
PhDs, apply for research funding, and can run
courses at university. The appointment of ZAP at
our university is done through faculties, and as the
IES is an autonomous institute (but not a faculty),
the ZAP-status of our senior academic personnel
(Academic Director, Senior Research Fellows and
Postdoctoral Researchers) could thus far only be
obtained indirectly (e.g. through the appointment
of 5% or 10% in a faculty). The decision of the VUB
of 6 December changes this, and the IES may now
set up its own ZAP contingent – evidently within the
IES budget lines, and within the overall university
policy. The decision, however, has a huge impact on
the Institute, which can finally put senior academics
forward to become ZAP members, allowing them to
promote PhDs and giving them more serious career
prospects.
Renewed Statutes
Whereas the previous IES statutes still made it
impossible for the IES to fully organise teaching
activities at Advanced Master level, the adopted
statutes of 6 December have turned this around.
A restructured Executive Board – the educational
oversight Board of the IES – will be put in operation
at the beginning of 2012 to better control and
coordinate the Master programmes, while all
educational activities are now concentrated at the
Institute.
These and other measures make the IES a more
mature institute that is ready to take on the
challenges of tomorrow and is able to fulfil its
mission as an centre of excellence on European
issues in Flanders. IES Management wants to thank
all those involved at university and beyond, who
helped push through the much needed changes that
will now be implemented.
IES Strategic Plan2011 - 2015
13New faces @ the IES
Dominik Tolksdorf is a new
Associate Researcher at the IES.
He is currently working as a
freelance researcher in projects
on the EU integration process with
Turkey and on the role of EU Special Representatives
in the EU’s external relations. Since 2006, he has
mainly analysed the European Union’s relations
with the states of the western Balkans, the south
Caucasus and Russia as well as the procedures of
the EU’s external relations. In his PhD dissertation
he has analysed the EU’s coordination and support
to reform processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He
has taught courses since 2001 on the EU Institutions,
Policies and Partnerships and on Comparative
Politics at Vesalius College, Brussels.
Léa Pilsner will be joining the
Institute as a visiting fellow from
the University of Leeds, East
Asian Studies Department. Léa
is currently working on her PhD
entitled ‘Energy cooperation in Europe-Asia
interregional relations: making partnerships truly
strategic?’ under the supervision of Prof. Christopher
Dent and Prof. Joern Dosch. Her work touches upon
the role of the EU as a global actor and specifically
concentrates on the normative impact of the EU’s
energy security cooperation with China, Japan and
South Korea. Having studied politics and European
studies in Strasbourg, Dublin and Hamburg, Léa has
also worked as a trainee for various international
and European institutions. While in Brussels, Léa will
be conducting a series of fieldwork interviews with
stakeholders involved in the making of EU-Northeast
Asia energy security cooperation at large.
Avinash Dadhich joined IES as
a Visiting Research Fellow at
IES in November 2011. He was
awarded a 125th anniversary
studentship for his doctorate
studies at Bangor University, Wales, UK and started
his doctoral research in September 2009 under the
supervision of Prof. Dermot Cahill, the Dean of Law
School. Avinash completed his first degree in law at
University of Delhi, India in 2006 and has received
licence of Delhi Bar Council as an Advocate. He has
two Master degrees in law: the first a Master in
European and International Law (maîtrise) in 2007-
08; and the second a Master in International and
Comparative law in 2008-09 from the University
of Toulouse, France. He has completed a summer
internship at Gide Loyrette Nouel, international law
firm, Paris and has also practiced for one year in
the Indian Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. He
has presented his research papers in 9 International
Conferences in Geneva, Vienna, Amsterdam, Oxford,
Poland, Athens, and Southampton. Avinash was a
visiting researcher at King’s College London under
guidance of Prof. Richard Whish from October 2010
to March 2011 and held the same research position
at Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and
Competition Law, Munich, Germany from April to
May 2011. His academic and research interests lie
in the area of the interface of Intellectual property
and Competition law and Merger policy, specifically
with regard to the interconnected relations between
them. His doctoral thesis, “The relation of IP and
competition law interface with EU Merger policy”,
focuses on competition regulation on merger
decisions in view of IP related merger remedies and
their role in a knowledge economy and especially
the interplay between legal and economic concepts
in pursuit of (consumer) welfare.
Babacan Taşdemir is a visiting
Research Fellow at the IES. He
graduated from the Media and
Cultural Studies Master’s Program
(MCS) at Middle East Technical
University (METU-Ankara, Turkey) in 2006. He is
now a PhD candidate at the same university. His
dissertation concerns the Information Society and
Media Policies of the European Union. He tries to
understand and explain the Information Society
Discourse and its reflection at the level of concrete
policy projects. For this purpose, the Audio-Visual
Media Services Directive (AVMSD) adopted in 2007
is ‘the case study’ in the dissertation. Analysing
the AVMSD formation process as the development
of a new policy language regarding the digital
media environment, the study aims at revealing
the interactions between existing power structures
and discursive practices within the EU context. To
conduct the field research, he will be in Brussels
at IES for two months. Among his main academic
interest fields are new media, political economy
of communication, and documentary cinema. He
has also worked for Audio-visual Systems Research
Center (GİSAM)at METU and contributed to the
production of many audio-visual materials. He
has presented several papers at various academic
conferences and published in scientific journals
and books.
Johanna van Vrede joins us as
an intern with the environment
c luster for 6 months. She
graduated from the University
of Amsterdam where she studied
Political Science (International Relations). Previously,
she completed her BA in Geography at the University
of Durham. She is very interested in the interaction
between energy security and climate policy, and
what role sustainable energy development can play
here. During her time at IES she will be assisting
Claire, as well as carrying out various other tasks,
and doing research for her own interest. Her aim is to
research the differences and/or similarities in policy,
implementation and outcomes for several European
states in order to research climatically similar states
and their different or similar approaches to solar
energy.
Magdalena Sapala is a new
Associate Researcher. She worked
previously with the European
Parliament and now teaches at the
Poznan University of Economics,
based in Brussels. Her research interests are:
European Parliament, regional policy and cohesion
policy, EU budget.
Rami Nissilä is an Associate
Researcher at the IES and writes
his PhD thesis entitled “Research
and Technological Development
Policy in Finland and the EU from
1991-1999”. His alma mater is the Turku University
where he studied contemporary history and political
sciences in the early 1990s. He is on leave of absence
from his function as the Head of the Academy of
Finland EU Office here in Brussels. Rami came to
Brussels in 1997 and has worked both in the public
and private sector, in and outside the EU institutions.
Joanna Kaminska is a new Associate Researcher
and works in the Secretariat General of the European
Commission. She also lectures on the European
Commission.
Malgorzata Gorska joins the IES as an Associate
Researcher. She works at the European External
Action Service (EEAS), on human rights issues.
Malgorzata can contribute to teaching on EU foreign
policy and human rights.
Anna Rudakowska is a new IES Associate
Researcher. She works as Assistant Professor at
Tamkang University in Taiwan. She will give lectures
on globalization, civic culture, economic and political
developments in North America, and on global
governance.
Hongyu Wang joins us as an Associate Researcher
and works as a Lecturer in the School of International
Studies at the University of International Business
and Economics (SIS-UIBE) in Beijing, China
Karen Donders is a new Associate Researcher and
works at SMIT (Studies on Media, Information and
Telecommunication) of the VUB.
14Master Programmes: Law & Politics
LLM trip to Luxembourg: Ilka Mauelshagen
On 7 December the LLM students alongside Prof.
Joris, Prof. Kalimo and Marleen Van Impe, LLM
secretary, met at 5:00 at the VUB to start their one
day-trip to Luxembourg. The agenda foresaw a
visit to the European Court of Justice as well as a
stroll through the old quarter of the Christmassy
Luxembourg.
Arriving at the European Court of Justice, we directly
headed inside the Main Courtroom that is located
– together with the other four courtrooms – in the
old Palais building. This building is “the public
face of justice” of the Court and all the public
hearings (annually about 230) are housed in one of
those courtrooms. We attended the hearing of the
case C-130/10, which is an action for annulment
(under Article 263 TFEU) brought by the European
Parliament against the Council for choosing the
wrong legal basis for a Council Regulation. Taking
into account that the vast majority of cases are
references for preliminary rulings brought by the
national courts of the Member States, we were lucky
to experience such a diverse and interesting hearing
with representatives of the European Parliament, the
Council, and the Commission. We got a great insight
in the practical work of the Court – with ‘our’ case
4O Years Anniversary
PILC Programme
Saturday 5 May 2012
Château Sainte-Anne, Brussels
touching fundamental democratic legal questions
and of course the amazing work of the translators
to overcome the language barriers.
After the hearing we were warmly welcomed by
the Belgian Judge Lenaerts in the Main Courtroom,
who is one of the 27 Judges each representing one
Member State of the Union. Judge Lenaerts gave
us a brief introduction to the working day of the
court, the tasks of the 8 Advocate Generals, the
Judges Rapporteurs and the Chamber system of the
Court. His appealing presentation was followed by a
wonderful lunch in one the Court buildings, where
we regained some strength for our stroll through
the old town of Luxembourg.
The cold and rainy weather didn’t stop us from
wandering through the little cobblestoned alleys
of the old town that was appointed as an UNESCO
world heritage in 1994. We enjoyed the view from
“Europe’s most beautiful balcony” as well as the
beautiful scenery of Place Guillaume and Place
d’Armes. We concluded this wonderful day with a
warm cup of Glühwein at the local Christmas market
before heading back to Brussels.
Former PILC student elected Prime Minister
of Croatia
Zoran Milanovic, who became Croatia’s Prime
Minister at the end of December 2011, is a
former PILC student (now entitled the LLM
International & European Law). He graduated
from the programme in 1999, having worked in
Brussels for a few years as an advisor to NATO
and the Croatian mission to the EU.
This executive programme, organised by the
IES, has been very successful in preparing law
students for leading positions in the European
institutions, the United Nations, the World Trade
Organization, the International Monetary Fund,
diplomacy and the private sector. It is a rigorous
academic course that requires commitment in
terms of class participation, examinations in the
broad field of European and international law,
and the preparation of a solid Master’s thesis.
Zoran Milanovic successfully completed the
programme in 1999. His professors remember
that, even as a student, he showed a particular
aptitude for practical problem solving.
www.ies.be/pilc40
15IES Publications
Journal of European Integration
Resulting from efforts
s p a n n i n g a c r o s s
research clusters in the
EUPERFORM horizontal
research project at
the IES , Sebast ian
Oberthür, Knud Erik
Jørgensen, and Jamal
Shahin recently edited
a special issue of the
Journal of European Integration (November 2011).
The publication marks one of the first attempts to
systematically analyse the performance of the EU
in international institutions. It focuses on the role
of the EU in decision-making within international
Dupont, Claire, and Primova, Radostina.
Combating complexity: the integration of
EU climate and energy policies. In: Tosun,
Jale, and Israel Solorio (eds.) Energy and
Environment in Europe: Assessing a Complex
Relationship, European Integration online
Papers (EIoP), Special Mini-Issue 1, Vol. 15,
Article 8 http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2011-
008a.htm
Gouritin, Armelle. The International Regime
for the Compensation of Oil-pollution
Damage: A Good Candidate to Have a Human
Rights Law Approach? In RECIEL 20 (2) 2011.
ISSN 0962 8797 (pages 194–207). DOI:
10.1111/j.1467-9388.2011.00722.x
Mattelaer, Alexander. How Afghanistan has
Strengthened NATO. In Survival, vol. 53 no. 6,
December 2011–January 2012, pp. 127–140.
DOI: 10.1080/00396338.2011.636517
Stahl, Anna. The Impact of China’s Rise on
the EU’s Geopolitical Reach and Interests in
Africa. In: European Foreign Affairs Review
16, pp. 427–446.
Eva Gross. EU-US Cooperation in Crisis
Management: Transatlantic Approaches and
Future Trajectories. In: Preventing Conflict,
Managing Crisis: European and American
Perspectives. Washington, DC: Center for
Transatlantic Relations. pp. 37-48.
Winkler, Sigrid. Biding Time: The Challenge
of Taiwan’s International Status. In
Brookings: http://www.brookings.edu/
papers/2011/1117_taiwan_international_
status_winkler.aspx
Gouritin, Armelle. Droit des changements
climatiques: légalité du droit de l’Union
Européenne au regard du droit international.
In Sentinelle. http://www.sentinelle-droit-
international.fr/bulletins/
Perspectives for a European Security
Strategy towards Asia: Views from Asia,
Europe and the US
by Gustaaf Geeraerts and Eva Gross
EU-Asia relations have steadily moved up the
Brussels policy agenda. The rise of China, and
the concomitant geopolitical shift this implies,
has posed questions about the strength of
the EU’s strategic relationships with individual
Asian countries. Beyond developing a strategic
approach towards individual countries, an
increasing number of security challenges in Asia
have direct implications for the EU and require
appropriate policy responses.
The case for increasing European engagement
is strong, not least because the period since
the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty has seen
the EU improve upon its policy tools that are
to strengthen its global reach as well as its
capabilities for policy implementation in pursuit
of European foreign policy goals. At the same
time, EU-Asia relations remain beset by a lack of
strategic thinking as to the EU’s policy interests
in Asia as well as the most appropriate tools to
pursue them.
ISBN: 9789054877769
A THREAT AGAINST EUROPE? Security,
Migration and Integration
by Peter Burgess and Serge Gutwirth
The concept of security has traditionally referred
to the status of sovereign states in a closed
international system. In this system the state is
assumed to be both the object of security and
the primary provider of security. Threats to the
state’s security are understood as threats to its
political autonomy in the system. The major
international institutions that emerged after
the Second World War were built around this
idea. When the founders of the United Nations
spoke of collective security, they were referring
primarily to state security and to the coordinated
system that would be necessary in order to avoid
the ‘scourge of war’. But today, a wide range
of security threats, both new and traditional,
confront Europe, or at least as some would say.
New forms of nationalism, ethnic conflict and
civil war, information technology, biological and
chemical warfare, resource conflicts, pandemics,
mass migrations, transnational terrorism, and
environmental dangers challenge, according to
many, the limits of our ability to safeguard the
values upon which European society is based.
ISBN: 9789054879299
organisations and regimes as a major locus of
global governance. Covering nine different cases,
the special issue provided broad insights into the
way in which the EU operates within different
institutional settings in international politics and
launched the call for a more in-depth comparative
approach to this aspect of EU external policy.
Both Sebastian and Jamal contributed their own
articles to the special issue, with Sebastian writing
on the EU’s performance in the International
Climate Change Regime, and Jamal discussing
the performance of the EU in the International
Telecommunication Union.
ISSN: 0703-6337 (Print), 1477-2280 (Online)
Academic Articles
16Contributions to this Newsletter:
Ilke Adam - Anthony Antoine - Alina Christova -
Avinash Dadhich - Alex Daniell - Eva Gross -
Selen Guerin - Amelia Hadfield - Harri Kalimo -
Marie Lamensch - Alexander Mattelaer - Ilka
Mauelshagen - Alexandra Mihai - Rami Nissilä -
Sebastian Oberthür - Léa Pilsner - Magdalena Sapala
- Thomas Sattich - Jamal Shahin - Luis Simon - Olof
Soebech - Anna Stahl - Babacan Tasdemir - Cem Tintin
- Dominik Tolksdorf - Marie Tuley - Ben Van Rompuy -
Johanna van Vrede - Jelena Vasic
Edited by:
Marie Tuley, Anthony Antoine and Laïla Macharis.
Pictures courtesy of IES
Newsletter of theInstitute for European Studies
Published by
Anthony Antoine
Institute for European StudiesVrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2 (IES)B-1050 Brussels (Belgium)
http://[email protected]
Events Calendar
KICK-START YOUR CAREER IN EUROPE
EUROPEAN POLICY-MAKINGSUMMER SCHOOL
www.ies.be/summerschool - Register before 15 April!
Date Event
Wed 11/01
12:00 - 13:15Wednesday Webinar: Quo vadis EU: Actors in Play: Eu Institutions
Tue 17/01
12:00 - 14:00
Research Colloquium: Integrating Integration: How Integration Policy was
puton the European Agenda
Wed - Tue
18 - 19/01
Training Programme
Workshop EU Research Funding
Fri 20/01
12:00 - 14:00
Policy Forum: Rio +20: Towards Transforming the Institutional Global
Sustainability?
Thu 26/01
12:00 - 14:00
Policy Forum: EU-China Economic and Trade Relations: Cooperation or
Competition for Raw Materials?
Fri - Sat
27 - 28/01
Expert Workshop: Inter-Organisationalism in International Relations:
Theories and Cases
Tue 31/01
12:00 - 14:00Research Colloquium: Climate Policy Integration into the EU’s Energy Sector
Mon - Wed
06-08 February 2012
Training Programme
The EU in Close-Up
Mon 6/02
12:00 - 14:00
Policy Forum: EU Budget Reform: Pathways to Greening the Future EU
Cohesion Policy
Mon 6/02
16:00 - 18:00PhD Defence of Katja Biedenkopf
Tue 14/02
12:00 - 14:00
Research Colloquium: The EU’s Influence on the Educational Chances of Roma
in the Czech Republik
Wed 22/02
12:00 - 13:15
Wednesday Webinar: The Multiannual Financial Framework 2014 - 2020:
Problem or Solution?
Fri 24/02
12:30 - 14:00
IES Spring Lecture Series: The International Criminal Court’s Second Decade:
Opening Session
Tue 28/02
12:00 - 14:00Research Colloquium: EU-China-Africa Trilateral Cooperation
Tue 6/03
11:00 - 13:00Policy Forum: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
Wed 7/03
12:00 - 14:00
IES Spring Lecture Series: The International Criminal Court’s Second Decade:
Cooperation
Wed 7/03
12:00 - 13:15
Wednesday Webinars: Quo vadis EU: Foreign Policy Vehicles and Near
Neighbourhood
Tue 13/03
12:00 - 14:00Research Colloquium: In search of the Essence of Crime against Humanity
Wed 14/03
12:00 - 13:15Webinar Series: Decoding the EU: European Commission
Thu 15/03
12:15 - 13:45
Book Launch: Gendering the European Union, New Approaches to old Democratic
Deficits
Fri 16/03 Conference: Europe and the Roma: Where do we stand now?
Wed 21/03
12:00 - 13:15Webinar Series: Decoding the EU: Council of Ministers and European Council
Tue 27/03
12:00 - 14:00
Research Colloquium: Performance Management/Evaluation: A Potential
Framework for Assessing EU-IO Interactions
Wed 28/03
12:00 - 13:15Webinar Series: Decoding the EU: European Parliament
Wed 28/03
12:00 - 14:00
IES Spring Lecture Series: The International Criminal Court’s Second Decade:
Victim Participation
Thu - Sat
03-05/05
International Conference (at the Academy Palace)
The EU in International Affairs III
Mon - Sat
02 - 14/07
Inter-University Summer School (Brussels & Vienna)
The European Decision-Making Process / European Policy Making