The European Union is a giant jig-saw puzzle, difficult to understand for researchers and even more for citizens. In the webinar “Europa al Limite – Europe on the edge”, the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation will try to put together the various pieces of a fragmented mosaic, asking some of the leading political scientists and sociologists in Europe the following questions:

Why don’t we feel European?

Are we Europeans or are we still too “national” in our ways of seeing and feeling? Is Europe a transparent arena for political discussion that goes beyond national borders, involving citizens, or is it merely a “table” where elites and governments confront each other? And why is the relationship between the member states always so conflictual?

What is Europe? And where is it going?

France is a unitary state. Germany is a Federation. What exactly is the European Union, and why do we find it so hard to understand and communicate it? Is this a new political model under construction? Or perhaps the model is – precisely – that of an open ended, and flexible construction, affecting both methods and objectives?

How can we relaunch the European project?

An “edge” is a line of division in time or space. It can denote a limit that cannot be trespassed or a watershed for new departures. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, what kind of edges – constraints and opportunities- are today facing the EU? What to expect for the future of Europe – and from the conference just opened on this question?

The two roundtables and the discussion among our guests will generate new ideas, with a view to outlining a comprehensive agenda for further debates. The initiative is a moment of public debate, linked to the research topics of the SOLID project (www.solid-erc.eu).

11 May 2021 15:00 – 18:00

Introduction
Maurizio Ferrera Professor of Political Science at Università degli Studi di Milano and Principal Investigator of Project SOLID

Why don’t we feel European?
Hanspeter Kriesi Professor of Political Science at the European University Institute and Principal Investigator of Project SOLID
Hans-Jörg Trenz Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa
Mathieu Segers Professor of History at the University of Maastrich
Jan Zielonka Professor of European Politics at Oxford

What is Europe and where is it going?
Kalypso Nicolaïdis Professor of International Relations at the European University Institute
Caterina Di Fazio Maastricht University
Jonathan White Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics
Waltraud Schelkle Professor of Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Principal Investigator of Project SOLID

Participation in the workshop is free, on Zoom