The von der Leyen Commission: A Midpoint Assessment

UACES and IACES are delighted to announce a new Seminar in the Series ‘The UK, Ireland and the European Union in a time of crisis’. This important and timely initiative brings together scholars from across these islands and beyond to consider and reflect on common crises, shared challenges and emerging opportunities for cooperation and collaboration.

The Von der Leyen Commission: A Midpoint Assessment

The second von der Leyen Commission officially took office on 1 December, after approval from the European Parliament. Five years after she first became Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen (EPP, Germany) faces a radically different landscape. In Brussels, other major posts such as High Representative for CFSP (Kallas, Estonia, Renew) and the President of the European Council (Costa, S&D, Portugal) have new faces. In the Member States, political uncertainty, especially, but not only, in France and Germany is leading to a leadership gap.

This webinar seeks to discuss and answer questions such as:

• Can the Commission provide much needed strategic clarity for Europe at this stage given that the von der Leyen II Commission was approved only by a narrow margin in Parliament?;
• How are the elements that most influenced the vote of confidence (such as the rise of the far right, the continued division of right-wing forces in the Parliament) likely to impact on the future work of the Commission?;
• How is von der Leyen going to face the difficulties that were put on the back burner, such as the multi-annual Community budget (MFF), the response to the war in Ukraine and the military and financial supplies to Kyiv (when will there be a real EU peace initiative?), initiatives for economic competitiveness and for strengthening the single market (Draghi and Letta reports); the relations with the new Trump-led US administration; the response to climate change and the Green Deal?

We are delighted to be joined by a panel of experienced academics and policy experts to discuss the EU's strategic direction over the next five years.

The event will finish with a Q&A session from audience members.

Chair: Dr. Giada Lagana (Cardiff University)

Speakers:

Dr. Elena Baracani (University of Bologna)

Dr. Joelle Grogan (UK in a Chaning Europe / University College Dublin)

Prof. Hussein Kasim (University of Warwick)

Dr. Jeffrey Rosamond (Ghent University)