2011: Rethinking Europe: Chances and Challenges of the European Project

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE

CUMBERLAND LODGE ANNUAL WORKSHOP 2012 MONDAY 06TH FEBRUARY – WEDNESDAY 08TH FEBRUARY

"THE CHANGE OF TIDE IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: A CRISIS IN EUROPE, A CRISIS OF EUROPE, OR A EUROPEAN CRISIS?"

Monday, 6th February

8.30 Gathering appointment

9:00 Coach departs from LSE

11:00 Arrival

11:30 Coffee Break

11:45 Introductory remarks: Hartmut & Or: Programme introduction: Students are divided into groups.

12:30 Lunch

14:00 Session 1: Crisis of the single market? Speakers: Miguel Otero-Iglesias (ESSCA School of Management) Michael Goldfarb (Journalist)

15:30 Coffee Break 16:00 Session 2: (Re)development of European institutions Speaker: Bob Hancké (London School of Economics)

17:30 Free Time

18:00 Dinner

19:00 Introduction to Cumberland Lodge: Dr Owen Gower Session 3: Student groups think about key questions for workshop

20:30 Free Time: Documentary/Movie

Tuesday, 7th February

8.15-9.00 Breakfast (Note: Breakfast will not be served after 9.00am)

9:45 Session 4: Europe and the future of the European idea Speaker: Sobrina Edwards (King’s College) Simona Guerra (Loughborough University)

10:45 Coffee Break

11:00 Session 5: Student reflect on the themes of the weekend and prepare presentations

12:30 Lunch

14:00 Free Time: Enjoying the Park

15:30 Coffee Break

16:00 Session 6: The European Crisis from a global perspective Speakers: Jan Zielonka (University of Oxford)

18:00 Dinner

19:00 Session 7: Student Presentations

21:00 Bar/Evening entertainment

Wednesday, 08th February

8:15-9.00 Breakfast (Note: Breakfast will not be served after 9.00am)

9:30 Students clear rooms

10:00 Departure THEMES FOR THE GROUP WORK

1. Crisis of the single market?: We will explore the dynamics and alternative explanations of the crisis of the single market and particularly its single currency; was this crisis the inevitable result of the integration of economically unequal partners as predicted by numerous economists within and outside of Europe? Wasn’t the creation of a competitive level playing field always going to generate winners and weed out the losers? More specifically, are Europe’s peripheral economies truly insolvent or are they merely illiquid? Are they too big to fail or too big to save? Should the ECB be allowed to monetise national member-state public debt? How can peripheral European states regain competitiveness and avoid a ‘lost decade’?

2. (Re)development of European institutions: We will investigate the flaws in the polycentric design of European policy making and governance; were European institutions sufficiently empowered by their institutional design to generate, monitor and enforce credible commitments from member-states? Did the European regulatory-state exceed its mandate thus contributing to the erosion of its own legitimacy? Is this a crisis of European institutions and of European governance, or is it rather a crisis of European (peripheral) nation-states, requiring (yet again) a ‘European rescue of the nation-state’? Finally, can the current efforts of crisis management act as a catalyst for a stronger, more integrated Europe?

3. Europe and the future of the European idea: We will examine whether we are in fact witnessing nothing less than the crisis of the ‘European idea’ and of the European identity; when it comes to the crunch (sovereign debt crises), are we still all Europeans or are we now once again Germans, French, Italians and Greeks? Are fiscal transfers let alone fiscal integration possible or even desirable in the absence of pan-European solidarity and a shared sense of fate or is this just wishful thinking? If the European integration of the past two decades has been premised around the now largely discredited (neoliberal) ideology, can European political and economic elites now offer an alternative vision around which our preferences will converge? Can the growing voices of dissent around Europe’s capitals be appeased?

4. The European Crisis from a global perspective: We will address the many and diverse two-way vectors of influence between the events unfolding in Europe and the wider, global context; how did the bursting of a housing bubble in Florida in 2008 morphed into a European sovereign debt crisis by 2011? What role did financial practices originally developed in New York and in the city of London play in the downfall of continental Europe’s banks, pension funds and even municipal authorities? What lessons can we learn from Iceland’s experience? Can the leaders of the G20 bring about real regulatory reform and convergence or will loopholes and regulatory arbitrage (‘standards-shopping’) continue to stymie any meaningful progress on tackling the core causes of the crisis? How will global financial markets respond to the various potential outcomes of the European situation?