Baltic EU Conversations 2021: Is Europe Getting Better?

On 12 March 2021, the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA), in cooperation with the European Commission's Representation in Latvia and the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia, held an annual high-level international conference: "Baltic EU Conversations 2021: Is Europe Getting Better?"

This was the sixth year of the "Baltic EU Conversations", the largest EU-themed high-level international conference in the Baltic states. Every year, speakers are selected to represent the diversity inherent in European Union decision-making – the conference draws the participation of the highest-ranking officials, influential politicians, think-tankers, and academia from the EU member states and various EU institutions.

This year, "Baltic EU Conversations 2021" delt with seven topics: the EU trade policy, European democracy, European economy in a climate-change aware environment, European strategic autonomy, European Neighbourhood Policy, and as well as the EU crisis dynamics and broader EU foreign policy.

Discussion recordings please see below. 

BEUC2021 recommendations please see here.

AGENDA, PDF download

Opening addresses:

  • Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia 
  • Andris Sprūds, Director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Professor at the Faculty of European Studies of the Riga Stradins University
  • Andris Kužnieks, Acting Head of the European Commission Representation in Latvia

Keynote Conversation on EU Trade Policy

  • Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Commissioner for Trade

Moderated by Margarita Šešelgyte, Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University

Panel Conversation: Europe After a Stress Test for Democracy 

  • Vita Anda Tērauda, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia
  • Valdis Zatlers, former President of the Republic of Latvia
  • Johannes Pollak, Rector of the Webster Vienna Private University, Chairman of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) Board of Directors
  • Sandra Dias Fernandes, Assistant Professor at the University of Minho, Portugal

Moderated by Kai-Olaf Lang, Senior Fellow of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

Panel Conversation: Reanimating the European Economy in a Climate-Change Aware Environment. 

  • Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament, former Prime Minister of Lithuania
  • Céline Gauer, Director-General - Head of the Recovery and Resilience Task Force of the European Commission
  • Zoltan Pogatsa, Associate Professor at the University of West Hungary (University of Sopron)
  • Mārtiņš Āboliņš, Senior Economist at Citadele Bank

Moderated by Inna Šteinbuka, Chairwoman of the Fiscal Discipline Council of the Republic of Latvia, professor at the University of Latvia

Parallel Panel Conversations

EFPI/ICDS Parallel Panel Conversation: Is European Strategic Autonomy Growing Stronger? 

  • Urmas Paet, Member of the European Parliament, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
  • Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Parliamentary Secretary (Vice-Minister) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
  • François Heisbourg, Senior Advisor for Europe at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
  • Hans-Christian Hagman, Senior Advisor and Head of Strategic Analysis at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Moderated by Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute

Hosted and broadcasted from Tallinn by the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute/International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) on www.icds.ee

IIRPS VU Parallel Panel Conversation: What is the Temperature of the European Neighbourhood Policy? 

  • Arnoldas Pranckevičius, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania 
  • Lolita Čigāne, former Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia
  • Joanna Hosa, Deputy Director of Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
  • Arkady Moshes, Director of the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia Research Program at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Moderated by Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, Jean Monnet Chair Professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University

Hosted and broadcasted from Vilnius by the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University (IIRPS VU) on www.tspmi.vu.lt

LIIA Parallel Panel Conversation: Are the Constant Crises Toughening Up the European Union? 

  • Mihails Kozlovs, Member of the European Court of Auditors
  • Lucia Mokra, Professor, Comenius University, Bratislava, Chairperson of the Board of Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA)
  • Antoinette Primatarova, Programme Director on European Union, Centre for Liberal Strategies
  • Rem Korteweg, Head of Europe in the World unit, Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations

Moderated by Kārlis Bukovskis, Deputy Director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Fulbright Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS

Hosted and broadcasted from Riga by the Latvian Institute of International Affairs on www.liia.lv and www.saeima.lv

Closing Keynote Conversation on the EU’s Future and Place in the World. 

  • José Manuel Durão Barroso, Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, former President of the European Commission and former Prime Minister of Portugal

Moderated by Edijs Bošs, Associate Professor at the Faculty of European Studies of the Riga Stradins University.

The "Baltic EU Conversations" is supported by the Representation of the European Commission in Latvia and the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia and is organized in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University (Lithuania), the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute and the International Centre for Defence and Security (Estonia), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia.

 

Published 12 March 2021