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 jshahin@vub.ac.be 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://www.ies.beies@vub.ac.be

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