EUROPEAN STUDIES

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Conference of Ministers for European Affairs, the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum in cooperation with the Jean Monnet Chair published the study 30 Jahre Europaministerkonferenz – Handlungsoptionen und Visionen für die Zukunft (30 Years of the Conference of Ministers for European Affairs - Options for Action and Visions for the Future). The policy paper analyses the impact and work of the conference over the last three decades and takes a look ahead with reform proposals and options for action to advance the representation of the interests of the German Länder at the EU level.  

Here you can download and read the policy paper. 

Research introduced in Dessau

Under the presidency of the Land Sachsen-Anhalt, the Conference of Ministers for European Affairs of the GermanLänder met in Dessau on in September 2022. The conference was opened by the Jean Monnet Chair, Professor Eva Heidbreder, and Professor Markus Kotzur, Vice Dean for International Relations and Chair for Public Law at the University of Hamburg to present the policy study. Here you can find out more about the event.

Debate in the Europaforum im Palais 2022

In order to disseminate the study’s results and further raise awareness of regional EU policymaking, the policy study was presented to a large public audience at the Europaforum im Palais. The Europaforum im Palais took place on invitation of the regional Europe Minster, Rainer Robra, in the premises of the regional governance on 28 November 2022. Using the report as key input, Rainer Robra (Minister of European Affairs of Saxony-Anhalt), Dr. Anton Hofreiter (Head of the Committee on European Union Affairs in the Bundestag), Dr. Johanna Schnabel (Research Fellow at the Otto Suhr Institute of the Free University of Berlin) and Maik Reichel (Director of the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung in Saxony-Anhalt) and Prof. Heidbreder (Jean Monnet Chair) discussed the past achievements and future challenges for the Conference of Europe Ministers, as well as regional EU policymaking.

More on the event here.

Results of the study discussed in Berlin between researchers and practitioners

On occasion of the publication of the print-version of the report, a public debate geared at policymakers and an interested public was held at the representation of the Land Sachsen-Anhalt in Berlin on 8 February 2023. Organised by the Jean Monnet Chair and the Hamburg-Vigoni Forum, the event assembled high-level German EU politicians to discuss the Conference of the Europe Ministers relevance, potential and challenges in current EU affairs. After an academic input by Prof. Callies (FU Berlin), Simone Großner, Almut Möller and Dr. Anna Lührmann discussed about the topic. At the heart of the discussion was the questions how “active subsidiarity” can be achieved. 

More on the event can be found here. 

A revised version of the report has been published in the "Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2023", here.