Thread by @tepsaeu

The @TRACK_EUCO conference "Spreading Knowledge about the European Council" is starting as we speak! The event, co-organised by @ceteus and TEPSA, is all about the @EUCouncil

Join us LIVE 🔴 or follow along here for the breakdown 👇

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Our TEPSA Executive Director Mariam Khotenashvili is giving the welcoming remarks to the conference, where there is significant participation from the TEPSA Network throughout the agenda - we look forward to discussions!

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On the @TRACK_EUCO side, Harun Suratli from @ceteus, manager of the #TRACK project, gives a second set of opening remarks on the work of the project to spread knowledge about the @EUCouncil

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The first panel, focussing on the scientific and practical objectives of studying the @EUCouncil, is starting now with remarks from @UniCologne's Hartmut Marhold: "a systemic approach is well adapted to see the specific features of the Council"

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Our moderator @HarunSuratli from @ceteus turns the conversation to @collegeofeurope's Michele Chang, who is also a Board Member of TEPSA!

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"Thinking back to 2009 and the #Euro crisis, we saw that the crisis demanded decisions which may require Treaty changes"

- Michele Change, @collegeofeurope

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"One thing that has come up frequently in the literature of the #COVIDResponse, is that this is a return to the community method, which was abandoned after the #EuroCrisis"

- Michele Change, @collegeofeurope

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Our third speaker in this panel of the @TRACK_EUCO conference is the project's Academic Coordinator Prof. Wolfgang Wessels: "how did interaction patterns between institutional actors affect the way the @EUCouncil works?"

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On this note, we move over to the Q&A portion of the panel: "The Scientific and Practical Objectives for Studying the European Council"

This is your chance in the audience to get your questions in to our great panellists: Michele Chang, Hartmut Marhold, and Wolfgang Wessels

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After a vibrant Q&A session, we draw this first session of the @TRACK_EUCO conference: "Spreading Knowledge about the European Council" and take a short break before returning for the Keynote Speech of #HermanvanRompuy

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We now move onto the keynote of #HermanvanRompuy to give a look behind the scenes of the @EUCouncil's activities over the last year of the #COVIDcrisis

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"The way the @EUCouncil exercised its powers in the last year has been unprecedented: the Union engaged in deficit spending, and issued its own bonds for that purpose. The Euro has enhanced its global status"

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#HermanvanRompuy on #NextGenerationEU:

"It's about solidarity in the EU, in vaccine procurement, in recovery spending, and more"

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"The EU's standing in public opinion during the pandemic did not improve despite the economic and vaccination success"

- #HermanvanRompuy on the @EUCouncil during the #COVIDcrisis

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Moderator Michele Chang now turns to @SophiaRussack from @CEPS_thinktank to give her reaction to both #HermanvanRompuy's keynote speech and the remainder of our conference on spreading knowledge about the European Council

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"The @EUCouncil is the place to be in terms of crisis management: crisis is the reason why the Council was created in the first place, and has taken on an invaluable role since 2010 and the start of the perpetual crisis"

- @SophiaRussack from @CEPS_thinktank

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If you have any questions for our speakers, including former @EUCouncil President #HermanvanRompuy, get them into the chat now for the @TRACK_EUCO panel on "a look behind the scenes" of the Council

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This brings an end to the first morning of the @TRACK_EUCO conference: "Spreading Knowledge about the European Council", and to our second panel

#Zoom back in at 14:00 CET for our next panel: "The European Council: A Crisis Manager beyond the Corona
Crisis?"

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Are you ready tp join us again for the afternoon session of the @TRACK_EUCO Dissemination Conference: "Spreading Knowledge about the @EUCouncil"?

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This afternoon we are enjoying a panel about the @EUCouncil as a crisis manager beyond the #CoronaCrisis, chaired by Julie Smith from @Cambridge_Uni

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Our first speaker is @JuhaJokela1 from @FIIA_fi, who will focus on the EU's external action: "while the @EUCouncil gives direction to the EU in general, it does so in CFSP in particular"

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"There is no other institution in the EU that is capable of gaining consensus around significant policies like the #EUGreenDeal"

- @JuhaJokela1 from @FIIA_fi on the work of the @EUCouncil

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We now turn to @CidobBarcelona's @solerlecha to speak from his perspective, giving a brief historical introduction to the topic from the @EUCouncil's founding

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Our final speaker for this panel is Ramunas Vilpisauskas from @VU_LT: "One of the key issues of this event is that the @EUCouncil has an important role in crisis management, and as we saw last year, this is the result of the Council holding the power of the purse"

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We have already moved on to the Q&A session, where we are discussing two major upcoming elections in 🇩🇪 and 🇫🇷 which could have significant impacts on the work of the @EUCouncil going forward

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One conclusion from the Q&A is that it may take some time for the outcomes of the current crisis to start showing: Ramunas Vilpisauskas from @VU_LT cites the crisis between Belarus and Lithuania where #migration is a hot potato even years after the #RefugeeCrisis

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This brings an end not only to the afternoon session of the @TRACK_EUCO Conference: "Spreading Knowledge about the European Council", but also to the first day of the conference altogether

Join us again tomorrow morning for more panels and the wrap-up of the conference!

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