Making sense of EU - Institut d'études européennes of the ULB

🎙️New Episode Alert ‼️ 

You want to discover more about the dangerous consequences of false information, the role of foreign and domestic actors and how new technologies like AI are intensifying the disinformation threat in the EU? 
Well, than listen to the latest and final episode of this academic year of “Talking with EU,” where our hosts @daniele and @arianna explore the pressing issue of disinformation and its impact on European politics. 
Featuring insights from special guests @iranda and @sara, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss!

🎧 Tune in now via the link in bio!

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In this seventh and last episode of the RED-SPINEL season of Making Sense of EU, we are delighted to welcome both Professor Ramona Coman of the Institut d’études européennes in Brussels, and Professor Daniel Kelemen of Georgetown University in Washington DC. 

To wrap up this first series of episodes exploring the nature of dissensus surrounding liberal democracy, we chose to focus our discussions on the relative efficiency and legitimacy of EU instruments specifically set up to strengthen both the rule of law and democratic principles.

On the eve of the 2024 European elections, the time is ripe to take a step back and assess how EU actions over the past decade have impacted the relative health of liberal democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe.

Building on the previous six episodes, the season’s finale will bring in two new elements: an expert American perspective on the challenges facing European liberal democracy and the rule of law, on the one hand; and a renewed focus on the institutions and instruments of the EU,    on the other. As a result, this episode hopes to broaden the series' perspective as it introduces an extra-European point of view, while further homing in on how EU institutions in particular have fared in an environment characterized by ever-increasing dissensus.

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Only a few days left to the European Parliament Elections 2024! So go to the polls and #UseYourVote! 

From 6-9 June, more than 400 million EU citizens are eligible to vote in this year’s EU election, making it the second biggest democratic election on the globe. 

In this episode of #TalkingWithEU, our two co-hosts, Cora Rimoldi and Felix Fend, together with our two guests, Carmen Noviello and Ludovica Colosimo dive deep into the way our European Elections work. We talk more about the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ principle, what it is, and why it didn’t work the last time in 2019. And we’re not tipping around the elephant in the room: What are the chances of current European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen being reelected after this year’s election? 

But we discuss also in this episode: Are our guests going to vote in this election, and why or why not? What has changed in the last years that led to the rise of right-wing and far-right parties in the polls, while the Greens are projected to loose seats? And what do we need to make the European Parliament Elections really more European and democratic? 



If you’re still unsure where and when you can vote for the European Parliament Elections 2024, then click here https://elections.europa.eu/ 

Listen to this episode and get the full students’ POV!

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Welcome to the 6th episode of the second "Making Sense of EU" season!

As with the season's other episodes, this one is also dedicated to the RED-SPINEL research project, and its analysis of the challenges facing liberal democracy across the European Union.

In this episode, we talk to professors Ramona Coman and Zolt Enyedi, as they share with us some of the initial findings and questions of their respective Horizon Europe-funded collective research projects, respectively RED-SPINEL and AUTHLIB.

Zolte Enyedi, who leads the AUTHLIB project, is a professor at the Department of Political Science of the Central European University. He studied comparative social sciences, history, sociology, and political science in Budapest and Amsterdam. His research focuses on party politics, comparative government, church-and-state relations, and political psychology. Ramona Coman, who leads the RED-SPINEL project, is a professor of political science at the Université libre de Bruxelles and a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. She is also a former director and president of the Institut etudes européennes and she studied political science, comparative politics, and European studies in Brussels. Her research interests include EU institutions, the EU decision-making process, the Rule of Law, democratic transitions, and comparative politics.

Throughout the episode, both Principal Investigators generously share how they came to set up their respective research agendas, and what the projects have allowed for so far.

Overall, this is a particularly timely episode as it comes in the run-up to the June European election, and it explores among others how research imperatives and agendas intersect with political ones.

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This episode was recorded as part of the IEE-ULB's #EUqualis Jean Monnet Center of Excellence.

EUqualis is focused on exploring "(in)equality and the EU" from various perspectives, including the students'. As such, this episode produced by the students is published within the framework of the #EUqualis Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had Europe in its grip for more than 3 years, fundamentally changing EU citizens’ lives. But not only had the pandemic limited citizens’ freedom but also reinforced inequalities in our society and between EU member states. And the consequences are still visible today. 

New data from a study conducted by the Institute d’Études Européennes provide fresh insight into access and quality of higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, making our two co-hosts, Daniele Bogani, and Arianna Flore, together with our two guests, Katherine Jeffery and Helin Borat, reflect on their own time at university during the pandemic. 

But also: What did the EU do to tackle inequalities in our societies and between EU member states during COVID-19? And was that enough? 

Listen to the full episode to get the Students’ POV.

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Welcome back to Making Sense of EU! This is already the fifth episode of the series's second season.

As a reminder, as part of the RED-SPINEL research project, the season is dedicated to exploring the challenges liberal democracy is facing in the European Union.

Our understanding of who we are, how we perceive others, and what our sense of belonging might be all depend on the stories we tell ourselves. In a context marked by polarization and even disinformation; dissensus surrounding these common stories can have far-reaching consequences.

To help us make sense of the stories being told about European democracies and their corollary values, we welcome professors François Foret & Maximilian Conrad.  

François Foret is professor of Political Science and president of the Institut d'études européennes (IEE) at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His research interests include European integration; identity and memory; symbolic legitimization of political orders; interaction between religion and politics; and comparative politics. Maximilian Conrad is a Professor at the University of Iceland - Háskóli Íslands. He is also the Principal Investigator of RECLAIM, a fellow Horizon-funded project on "Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in Europe". His research interests include: European integration, German politics, and political theory, particularly issues connected to democracy, communication, civil society, and the public sphere. Ongoing research includes work on the implications of post-truth politics for liberal democracy in Europe.

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The recent farmer's protests have shaken up the EU not only from the distance but also by manifestations of farmers from every corner of Europe pouring into Brussels itself, paralyzing the EU capital. But protests have not only been in Brussels but all across the EU. 

That’s why in this episode we’re asking: Why are farmers so angry? And what different challenges is the EU agriculture policy facing in a world marked by constant crises? Does farmers' participation in EU agricultural policy also mean it's now a regular topic in everyday political discussions?

Our two hosts Silvia Bagnuolo and Felix Fend were more than happy to have had our two guests - Filippo Segato and Lucas Chauvin - delve into this crucial topic. 

So give the students’ POV a listen and find out it!

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The year of elections - A test for liberal democracy? 

Tune in to get the full scoop of the students’ POV on a year of decisive elections! 

In this episode two IEE-ULB master students - Daniele Bogani and Felix Fend - host a roundtable discussion with two IEE-ULB Alumni - Marta Volpe and Javier Bardón - delving deep into what to expect this year. 

In 2024, over half of the world's population will head to the polls. Among them are both the citizens of the EU and the USA, with established liberal democratic practices and principles challenged on either side of the Atlantic. Polities on both sides face more and more attacks, both internal and external, by increasingly popular authoritarian forces. 

Such challenging prospects for the coming year see the episode's discussants explore why is the concept of liberal democracy so offensive to authoritarian forces. Question what can we expect from the European Parliament Elections in June? And consider what a second Trump presidency might mean for the EU and the international liberal order? 

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The student’s POV is finally back!

After a long summer break, we are back to bring you the latest hot topics from EU politics in a student-friendly and engaging way!

New year, new team.

This means also that we’re happy to welcome a new bunch of students joining our podcast team. 

In this episode, our two hosts, Daniele Bogani & Silvia Bagnuolo dive with our two guests, Lukas Schaefer and Maicon Bellavia into the topic of EU neighborhood policy, in concrete enlargement policy. Many questions will be answered during this episode. Where do we stand at the moment with the enlargement process? What are the prospects for the current contenders for EU membership, such as Turkey or the Western Balkan countries? And is the EU even fit for further enlargement? But also what future do we see for Ukraine and Moldovia? 

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One of the instruments of the European Union that provokes dissensus among Member States is conditionality. A tool for accountability for some, a threat to sovereignty for others, conditionality has been transforming EU governance. But how?   

In the fourth episode of the second season, to help us Make sense of conditionality and its use in EU governance, we welcome professors Cristina Fasone & Marta Simoncini, from LUISS Guido Carli University.  

We met during the Council for European Studies conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, where they presented the first research results for our Horizon Europe RED-SPINEL research project. 

Cristina Fasone is Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law and Director of the BA Program in Politics, Philosophy and Economics of the Department of Political Science. Her research focuses on parliamentary democracy in Europe, Constitutional adjudication and national and EU budgets.  

Marta Simoncini is an Assistant Professor in Administrative Law also at LUISS. Her research interests cover European law and administrative governance in the check-and-balances applicable to discretion, especially in the context of risk-based regulation. 

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