July 3 2020 - 10:00 - 17:00 CET

We are pleased to announce the virtual RECONNECT Conference on “What Future for the European Union? Discussions on the Rule of Law and Democracy in the EU after COVID”, featuring a keynote address by ;Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography.

Join us for the full-day programme or tune in for a particular session.

Schedule

• 10:00 – 11:00 | Panel 1: Overcoming the European Union’s Citizen Disconnect in a Decade of Crisis
• 11:30 – 12:30 | Panel 2: (Re-)estimating Populism’s Impact on European Democracy
• 13:30 – 14:00 | Keynote address: Ms. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography
• 14:30 – 15:30 | The PSPP Judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court
• 16:00 – 17:00 | Key Priorities for the EU in Light of COVID-19

Full Programme

Panel 1: Overcoming the European Union’s Citizen Disconnect in a Decade of Crises 

10:00 – 11:00    

The pan-European Covid-19 crisis marks a new negative climax in a series of crises that the EU has faced over the last 10 years. In this decade of crises, the EU has often been portrayed as being unable or unwilling to truly respond to the concerns of EU citizens. In turn, observers claim that there is a growing disconnect between EU citizens and the Union. In this panel, we will discuss how citizen engagement in the EU could be reinforced. To this end, we focus on the Conference on the Future of Europe as well as RECONNECT’s latest election survey, voter participation in the EU, and a recently published RECONNECT-analysis on the 2019-European Elections.

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Kolja Raube, Assistant Professor for European Studies and Senior Researcher, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven

Speakers:

• Ms. Silvia Kotanidis, Policy Analyst at the European Parliament Research Service
• Prof. ;Sylvia Kritzinger, Professor for Methods in the Social Sciences, University of Vienna
• Prof. ;Giulia Sandri, Associate Professor, ESPOL Lille and Research Associate, CEVIPOL, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
• Prof. ;Jan Wouters, RECONNECT Coordinator and Jean Monnet Chair ad personam EU and Global Governance, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven

Panel 2: (Re-)estimating Populism’s Impact on European Democracy

11:30-12:30

 Rule of law backsliding and the rise of defect democracies have become a persistent phenomenon in the EU. Until today the EU institutions struggle to find appropriate ways to respond to the erosion of the EU’s core values. But what actually is the state of Democracy? In this panel, we will discuss the RECONNECT’s latest empirical findings on the state of democracy and the rule of law in Europe and raise the question if European populism is about undermining or reforming European democracy. Finally, we discuss how, especially in times of COVID-19, the EU could respond to democratic deficits and foster greater citizen participation.

Moderator: Prof. ;Kolja Raube, Assistant Professor for European Studies, KU Leuven and Senior Researcher, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies

Speakers:

• Prof. ;Ben Crum, Professor of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Prof. Dr. Pieter de Wilde, Professor of Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Dr. Alvaro Oleart, Postdoctoral Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Dr. Rosa Balfour, Director, Carnegie Europe

Keynote – ;Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography

13:30-14:00 

Moderator: Prof. ;Jan Wouters, RECONNECT Coordinator

Panel 3: The PSPP Judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court

14:30-15:30

 On 5 May 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court delivered its judgment in the PSPP case, granting constitutional complaints concerning the proportionality of the Public Sector Purchase Programme of the European Central Bank. The Court thereby expressly contradicted the preliminary ruling of the CJEU, which it considered as an ‘ultra vires act’ that had no binding effect in Germany. This panel will discuss the context and content of the judgment, its implications for EU law and the relationship between the CJEU and national courts, as well as the way forward.

Moderator: Mr. Alex Andrione-Moylan, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven

Speakers:

• Prof. ;Dieter Grimm, Former Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Republic of Germany and Professor Emeritus at the Humboldt University Berlin
• Prof. ;Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and in the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
• Prof. ;Laurent Pech, Professor of European Law, Middlesex University London

Panel 4: Key Priorities for the EU in Light of COVID-19

16:00-17:00 

In an effort to combat the COVID-19 crisis, EU Member States have imposed a broad range of measures that have severely affected the rule of law. Now that the Union is slowly emerging from the lockdown, it finds not only the societal but also the political and legal landscape profoundly altered.  This panel will take stock of emergency responses across Europe and their lasting effects. What should be the key priorities for the EU when it comes to safeguarding the rule of law in COVID-19 Europe?

Moderator: Mr. Alex Andrione-Moylan, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven

Speakers:

• Dr.Joelle Grogan, Senior Lecturer in UK and EU Public Law, Middlesex University London
• Mr. Michael Meyer-Resende, Executive Director at Democracy Reporting International (implements Mercator re:constitution project)
• ;;Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law &Risk Regulation at HEC Paris, Director and Co-founder of ‘The Good Lobby’