Global Europe Unpacked commonspace.eu

Since September 2021, the action-oriented thinktank LINKS Europe and The Hague Municipality, with the support of The Hague Humanity Hub, have hosted a series of 10 citizen-dialogue events on various issues of international concern. Titled, ‘The Hague Conversations on the Future of Europe in the World’, the events ran in framework of the EU’s Conference on the Future of Europe, and were a chance for European citizens to share their thoughts and ideas on the what the EU is doing and what it needs to do better. In this episode, Will Murray unwraps the main findings of the events series with Dr Dennis Sammut, the Director of LINKS Europe and Managing Editor of commonspace.eu.

Since its establishment, the EU has relied on soft power – such as diplomacy – and economic instruments as its main foreign policy tools, leaving hard and military power to its member states and the main Western military alliance, NATO. The concept of EU hard power is hardly new but has by-and-large remained, up to now, abstract; however, in light of the EU’s growing place in the world and recent events in Ukraine exposing threats that were thought to have been consigned to the history books, what was once inconceivable is starting to gain ground. To address this topic, Will Murray speaks to Prof Dr Jamie Shea – Professor of Strategy and Security at the University of Exeter and the former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges.

The topic of EU enlargement encapsulates more than any other topic the interaction between the processes going on inside the European Union with those outside of it. It is discussed often in response to questions that go to the heart of the European project: Should the EU be considering new members, or should it consolidate first? What makes a country European? The question, ‘where does Europe end?’, has been asked repeatedly over the last three decades but never properly answered. In this episode, Will Murray speaks to HE Mr David Solomonia, the Georgian Ambassador to the Netherlands, and Professor Antoaneta Dimitrova, Professor of Comparitive Governance at Leiden University, to shed light on this question.

In this episode of Global Europe Unpacked, produced in collaboration with the City of The Hague, Will Murray speaks to Brian Mefford – a long-time observer of Ukraine, based in Kiev – about the state of the rule of law in Ukraine and the biggest challenges it faces; how it is affected by Russian interference; and what more could be done by the country’s Western partners to support and promote the rule of law there. Will then speaks to the vice-president of the Ukrainian National Bar Association, Dr Valentyn Gvozdiy, about what his institution does to support the rule of law in Ukraine; his perspective on the issues that Ukraine faces; and what he believes Ukraine can offer the EU when it comes to justice and the rule of law.

Why not join the conversation? You can access the Conference on the Future of Europe’s digital platform to share your ideas, find events, and to read ideas and event reports, here: www.futureu.europa.eu/

In this introductory episode for series two of Global Europe Unpacked, produced in collaboration with the City of The Hague, Will Murray speaks to the Head of Representation for the European Commission in the Netherlands, Didier Herbert, about how the Conference on the Future of Europe is taking shape, and how people can – and why they should – get involved. Will then shares a conversation with The Hague’s Deputy Mayor, Saskia Bruines, about the importance of bridging the gap between the local and the international, and how her city of peace and justice is contributing to the initiative. #TheFutureIsYours

Access the Conference on the Future of Europe’s digital platform: www.futureu.europa.eu/

We’ve been hearing a lot recently about multilateral diplomacy in crisis but what does this really mean? In the final episode of series one, Will Murray speaks to Stephanie Liechtenstein, the Web Editor-in-Chief of the Security and Human Rights Monitor, about multilateral diplomacy in the age of COVID-19, challenges for the OSCE, and more…