Schmidt Participates in Panel Discussing European Reform
On June 16, 2021, Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, participated in a webinar hosted by Bruegel on the prospects of ‘reflection’ or ‘reform’ coming out of the European Union’s Conference on the Future of Europe.
During this event organized by the research project EU3D, panelists discussed different options for reform and what they may entail while revisiting the debates on the future of Europe at national and EU-level that have been conducted thus far and their patterns, including preliminary findings on national parliamentary debates.
Schmidt provided comments and reflections on the opening speech by Member of the European Parliament Manfred Weber. In her comments, Schmidt emphasized the necessity for unity among national reform conversations, facilitating more productive reform policy discussion the European Council and potentially reforming the body to create more cooperative decision making, as well as engaging the public in policy reforms as opposed to simply communicating those reforms. She also offered specific recommendations to bolster EU legitimacy, which will bolster the public’s trust in European governing practices.
A recording of the event can be viewed below.
Vivien Schmidt is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was the first Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe, housed at the Pardee School. Schmidt’s research focuses on European political economy, institutions, democracy, and political theory—in particular on the importance of ideas and discourse in political analysis. Read more about Professor Schmidt on her faculty profile.