Thread by @tepsaeu

The #InDivEU Mid-Term Conference is about to kick off, and we'll be live-tweeting it!💪

So stay tuned for some great coverage for the next two days of the conference, including FOUR expert panels on #Differentiation and #DifferentedIntegration

#FutureofEurope

We're live at #InDivEU!🔴

We'll be sharing some choice quotes as ever, as part of the #InDivEU Mid-Term Conference

/THREAD

The #InDivEU conference, despite being held over #Zoom due to #COVID19, is still an interactive conference, bringing together expert researchers from all across Europe!

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Panel I: "Differentiated Integration: Governments, Parties, Citizens" is about to start!

3 Presentations will be presented by various experts

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.@_mlorimer from @UniofExeter is currently exploring arguments for and against #DifferentiatedIntegration:

Does it foster equality and accommodate diversity, or threaten European unity?

But these are academic questions: "We want to focus our attention on political parties"

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Half of respondents were favourable to #DifferentiatedIntegration, eight of which were from richer and older Member States BUT they viewed it as "a process that should be used within clear guidelines and limits"

- @_mlorimer from @UniofExeter

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CONCLUSIONS: Pragmatic arguments are most important to supporters of #DifferentiatedIntegration, while opposition is argued from the normative perspective

That's the wrap-up of the first of our three papers for this first panel!

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Now Stefan Telle from @EuropeanUni begins the presentation of the second paper: "What do governments think about #DifferentiatedIntegration?"

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This second paper focuses on government discourses in SIX categories of documents, engaging in a quantitative analysis of these to get the most accurate results 🧑‍🎓

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Research is an ongoing process, but here are some initial findings:

There are no clear trends in the salience of #DifferentiatedIntegration, instead there are peaks around key events in European Integration: in 2017 when the #FutureofEurope debate began, for instance.

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Governments have their own terms for #DifferentiatedIntegration: "Coalition of the Willing", "Two-Tier Europe", etc.

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We're now hearing about the third of these papers: "A Blessing and a Curse?: Explaining Public Preferences for Differentiated Integration", by @LdeBlok and @CatherineDVries from @VUamsterdam

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The paper's aims are:

1⃣map public preferences for DI
2⃣investigate determinants of those preferences
3⃣examine differences between Eurosceptic and pro-EU citizens within this two elements

@LdeBlok @CatherineDVries

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But what about its conclusions?:

➡️people are now more supportive of DI
➡️vertical DI support is strong among left-wingers and pro-Europeans
➡️horitzontal DI support is strong among right-wingers and Eurosceptics

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The chair of this first panel (Frank Schimmelfennig from @ETH) is now giving his overview of the three fascinating presentation on GOVERNMENT, PARTIES, and CITIZENS

This means it's time to get excited: questions will now be open in the chat, so get them in while you can!

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We're now getting our first questions from the participants!

The #InDivEU conference is a truly interactive event: we're speaking on #Zoom from all over the world, but all our participants can come into the conversation, ask questions, and present their own viewpoints 💪

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The #InDivEU conference is already producing a fascinating and diverse discussion on #DifferentiatedIntegration - and it's only the first panel😍

It's like watching peer review in progress!

@dice_h2020 @EGPProg @RobSchuCentre @EuropeanUni @EU_H2020

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"Is there a structured public discussion on #DifferentiatedIntegration? Our project's purpose is to encourage a new bottom-up discussion on this great proposal for the #FutureofEurope"

Frank Schimmelfennig from @ETH_en concludes the first panel of the #InDivEU conference

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https://twitter.com/tepsaeu/status/1271057245607002114

Bernardo Rangoni from @UvA_Amsterdam is leading us off with his presentation on the paper: "European Union Electricity Regulation: Uniform, Differentiated, or Experimentalist?"

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"The first important finding is that EU electricity regulation appears to be characterised by a desire towards uniformity"

Bernardo Rangoni from @UvA_Amsterdam explains some of his paper's findings

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"No matter how uniform EU rules may be, they always leave room for differentiation"

The surprising findings are always the most fascinating💪

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We now hear from Jonathan Zeitlin from @UvA_Amsterdam on the topic of "The Single Supervisory Mechanism in Action: Experimentalist Practices beneath a Hierarchical Veneer?"

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"The Banking Union and Single Supervisory Mechanism are considered the most significant moves towards integration since the introduction of the euro"

Jonathan Zeitlin from @UvA_Amsterdam takes us through the context of his contribution to the #InDivEU conference

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The SSM's core idea is to treat similar institutions similarly, and different institutions differently across the Banking Union, raising the question: is this a case study of uniformity or #differentiation?

Jonathan Zeitlin from @UvA_Amsterdam raising fascinating issues

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Our chair for this panel, Markus Jachtenfuchs from @thehertieschool has chosen to open questions to the floor on these first two presentations before moving on to the following two, being that they cover similar topics

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This is why the #InDivEU Mid-Term Conference is so valuable to the public debate around #DifferentiatedIntegration:

We've had questions from a number of participants across Europe, now our panellists are answering in real time!

@EGPProg @RobSchuCentre @EuropeanUni @BrigidLaffan

Our chair for this panel is now moving us on to the next paper presentation:

"Linking Differentiated Integration and Compliance: Same-Same but Different", presented by Ronja Sczepanski from @ETH_en

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#DifferentiatedIntegration in secondary law is actually quite an unexplored area of study, which shows the value of #InDivEU in the public discourse: the project allows us to examine these fascinating questions and network among researchers to improve our understanding

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"It was argued in 2001 that #DifferentiatedIntegration and non-compliance in secondary law are 'two sides of the same coin', but the venues for each are different: #Differentiation must be negotiated, non-compliance is a domestic decision" - @RonjaSczepanski from @ETH_en

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"Our initial conclusions go against all our assumptions, so we need to move forward to be able to understand more"

A fascinating conclusion from @RonjaSczepanski from @ETH_en, emphasising the need to constant evaluation and re-evaluation on #InDivEU topics

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We now move on to our fourth presentation of the afternoon, on the topic "Patterns of Differentiated Integration in EU legislation", presented by Sebastiaan Princen

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There are two phases to the study:

1⃣create a dataset on the discretion offered by EU directive
2⃣examine three case studies in four Member States

➡️to investigate the extent to which discretion is taken advantage of by Member States

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In the remaining time, Hubert Smekal presents the results of this fourth study

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"Probably the most interesting part of this primary exploration is looking at which policies allow what amount of flexibility: it is particularly evident in the field of taxation, transport, and freedom of establishment, rather than environment and consumer protection"

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Our moderator Markus Jachtenfuchs from @thehertieschool now gives us his comments before moving on to the nearly a dozen questions our participants have for these latest two paper presentations.

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And so concludes the first day of the #InDivEU conference.

The value contributors and participants add to the #InDivEU project is unbelievable, so thank you for a great first day, and see you tomorrow!

@EGPProg @RobSchuCentre @EuropeanUni @dice_h2020 @EU_H2020

/ENDS

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