INVITATION: Building Europe through Democratic Processes

We would like to cordially inviite you on the debate dealing with the issue of EU's democratic legitimacy. The event will take place on Monday 18th of September, 2017 (17:00- 19:00) at Schebek Palace (Politických věznů 936/7, Prague 1).

The event will focus on the issues pertaining to European integration; how pressure to increase democracy at European level regularly emanates from outside European institutions, through not only active citizens but also NGOs, intellectuals, philosophers, political scientists and civil society in general. However, is there a European identity that underpins it all and can offset what some perceive to be a democratic deficit? In this sense, further integration might be necessary to tackle an unprecedented political crisis and waning trust in the European project.

How can the EU, Member States or other actors promote the EU’s democratic legitimacy? Is there a need to rebalance the current power structure in the European Union? What would be the role of smaller and medium states within it? Are the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality enough to ensure the sharing of power equally between the Union and the Member States?

Speakers: 

• Raül Romeva Rueda, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Government of Catalonia
• Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Researcher, Institute of International Relations 
• Helena Valkova, Member of the Chamber of Deputies (ANO), former Minister of Justice 

The debate will be moderated by: Christian Kvorning Lassen, Research Fellow (EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy).

The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session. Refreshments will be provided. After the panel discussion, the Catalonian jazz musician Mrs Andrea Motis will perform a small jazz session to accompany the food and drinks.

Please register at bit.ly/BuildingEurope or contact us via europeum@europeum.org. You can find the event also on Facebook.

Christian Kvorning Lassen
Deputy Director & Head of Research

Expertise: Migration/European migration crisis, EU foreign policy, Scandinavian politics, populism, EU enlargement policy