Thread by @tepsaeu

As always, we'll be live-tweeting the best bits from the online conference, so stay tuned to hear more from our experts @katarinabarley, Robert Sermek, @_PaulSchmidt, Lucia Mokrá, and Ol'ga Gyárfáśová!

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Robert Sermek from @EP_Bratislava is currently welcoming our audience in place and at home to the conference, and presents the perspective of the @Europarl_EN on the topic of Euroscepticism in Slovakia

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"Over 70% of MEPs are pro-European, so the predicted Eurosceptic tsunami of 2019 did not occur as predicted. But this isn't to say it's not a problem we need to face"

- Robert Sermek from @EP_Bratislava

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.@katarinabarley of the @Europarl_EN joins us now via video link to discuss the topic. She raises the use of #COVID19 as an excuse to "tighten legislative structures around fundamental rights not only in states already violating the rule of law, but in others too"

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.@katarinabarley from @Europarl_EN addresses Euroscepticism: "a lot of criticism is based on the EU not having acted, which means we have a problem of too little Europe"

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"If we work together, we can tackle Euroscepticism together"

@katarinabarley, Vice-President of the @Europarl_EN wraps up her valuable contribution to proceedings

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We now welcome @_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe to first give the wider European perspective of Euroscepticism, drawing on his expertise and role as co-editor of the TEPSA Book whose chapter on Slovakia we are presenting in this conference 💪

By the way, you can order the book now!

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In over 40 European states, TEPSA has a member, and in the new book, each makes their contribution

"it's a political travel guide, taking us through our similarities and differences, giving a European picture of Euroscepticism across the continent"

@_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe

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"If we fail now, we have all the ingredients for a new wave of Euroscepticism"

@_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe elaborates on the opportunity to gain more strength and a sense of understanding, awareness, and solidarity by dealing successfully with #COVIDrecovery

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.@vonderleyen spoke in #SOTEU about the need for a new conversation about competences.

@_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe in this context calls for more and better coordination to solve crises: "national governments have a European responsibility - they need to recognise this"

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.@_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe expands on "this nationalistic, populist side that says 'my country first'" which he argues is responsible for their respective crises, because they've never been able to work together in the European project

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"Many challenges we do have in common, and we do have to solve them together"

@_PaulSchmidt from @oegfe ends his initial contribution by noting that his passion could result in "a 60 minute speech"

He says that as if it's a bad thing, but we'd love to hear it!

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Ol’ga Gyárfáśová begins her contribution to the conference by noting the value of the TEPSA Book "Euroscepticism and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals" as allowing readers easy-to-understand expert analyses of this theme of Euroscepticism from across Europe

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Ol’ga Gyáráśová from @ComeniusUni gives an analysis of Euroscepticism from across the political spectrum

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"During the #COVID19 pandemic, we have seen a new type of Euroscepticism beyond the nationalistic, identity based type which argues we have 'too much Europe': what we have seen this year is Euroscepticism based on there having been 'too little Europe'"

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Lucia Mokrá from @ComeniusUni is now giving her perspective on the topic for our audience

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Lucia Mokrá, who is also Chairperson of thew TEPSA Board, is currently talking about the effectiveness of working together to solve crises: working together is better!

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As we move into the Q&A portion of the conference, our thanks go to all who have participated, including in particular @katarinabarley of the @Europarl_EN and the EP office in Bratislava (@EP_Bratislava)

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We're currently enjoying an engaging Q&A session in our conference on Slovakian Euroscepticism, discussing the impact historical context and Slovakian national identity has on the country's perceived role in the world

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After this stimulating discussion, Lucia Mokrá thanks our participants @katarinabarley, @RobertSermek, @_PaulSchmidt and Ol’ga Gyárfáśová

Thank you for joining us, and stay tuned for the next discussion on "Euroscepticism and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals"

/ENDS

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