Annual Council Meeting 2016

In the immediate aftermath of the UK’s referendum on EU membership over 200 serving foreign ministers, former prime ministers, members of national parliaments and European Parliament, EU Commissioners, former NATO secretaries generals, professors, journalists and business leaders will come together at the European Council on Foreign Relations Annual Council meeting in The Hague – a forum that provides an excellent opportunity for ECFR Council Members alongside external high-level speakers to discuss the most pressing foreign policy challenges of the day and look creatively at Europe’s long-term prospects.  

The meeting will discuss Europe’s management of refugee flows, Britain’s place in Europe after the referendum; how NATO and the EU should respond to the threat of Russian aggression; what the EU’s interest should be in Syria; what the strategic partnership between Europe and Turkey should look like; Europe’s role in Libya; and Europe’s response to the US presidential election.

Follow this page on the 27th and 28th of June to get live multimedia updates from the ECFR Annual Council Meeting

PROGRAMME

DAY 1 – Monday, 27 June 2016

• 13:00-13:20
  • WELCOME
    • Mabel van Oranje, co-chair of ECFR Board
    • Alison Wallace, new CEO, ECFR
    • Bert Koenders, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands (video)

• 13:20-13:30
  • Remarks by Mark Leonard, Director, ECFR

• 13:30-15:30
  • Brexit: Views from Europe
    • Gordon Bajnai, Former Prime Minister of Hungary
    • Norbert Röttgen, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Bundestag 
    • George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations
    • Alexander Stubb, Former Prime Minister of Finland 
    • Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO, Save the Children International
    • Moderator: Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist, Financial Times

• 16:00-17:30
  • Brexit: Views from the UK
    • Douglas Alexander, former Secretary of State for International Development
    • Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, Oxford University       
    • Malcolm Rifkind, former UK Foreign Secretary
    • Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist, Financial Times

• 17:30-18:30
  • How should NATO and the EU respond to the threat of Russian aggression?
    • Robert Pszczel, Acting Director, NATO Information Office in Moscow
    • Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Former NATO Secretary General
    • Beatrice de Graaf, Professor for the History of International Relations & Global Governance, University of Utrecht
    • Moderator: Nick Witney, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
• 18:30-22:00
  • Reception followed by the ECFR Council Dinner.

DAY 2 – Tuesday, 28 June 2016

• 07:45-08:45
  • Early Bird Breakfast sessions (in parallel)
  • Breakout session 1: Challengers and insurgents: Who are the new forces shaping foreign policy across the EU?
    • Sylvie Kauffmann, Editorial Director, Le Monde
    • Ivan Krastev, Chair of Board, Centre for Liberal Strategies
    • Moderator: Mark Leonard, Director, ECFR
  • Breakout session 2: How to achieve real solidarity amongst Europeans to manage refugee flows?
    • Kostas Bakoyannis, Governor of Central Greece
    • Emma Bonino, co-chair of ECFR Board
    • Sigrid Kaag, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
    • Moderator: Petra Stienen, Author; Member of Dutch Senate 
  • Breakout session 3: Does Russia want to break up the European Union?
    • Mark Galeotti, Professor of Global Affairs, New York University; Visiting Fellow, ECFR
    • Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief, Russia in Global Affairs
    • Moderator: Kadri Liik, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
• 08:55-10:00
  • What are Europe’s interests in Syria?
    • David Cvach, North Africa and Middle East Advisor, Cabinet of the President of France
    • Philip Gordon, former Special Assistant to the President of the United States and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf Region
    • Rim Turkmani, Senior Research Fellow, London School of Economics
    • Moderator: Daniel Levy, Director of Middle East and North Africa programme, ECFR
• 10:00-10:30
  • In conversation with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands
    • Moderator: Lykke Friis, Prorector, University of Copenhagen
• 10:35-11:35
  • Breakout sessions (in parallel)
  • Breakout session 4: China and the international order: joining, free riding or challenging it?
    • Carl Bildt, co-chair of ECFR Board
    • Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister of Australia
    • François Godement, Director, Asia and China programme, ECFR
    • Moderator: Matthias Nass, Chief International Correspondent, Die Zeit
  • Breakout session 5: Does Europe need its own digital champions?
    • Toomas Ilves, President of Estonia
    • Constantijn van Oranje, Director for digital diplomacy and macro strategy, Macro Advisory Partners
    • Eckart von Klaeden, Head of External Affairs, Daimler AGModerator: Andrew Puddephatt, Director, Global Partners
  • Breakout session 6:  How can Turkey and Brussels prevent a blow up?
    • Asli Aydintasbas, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
    • Gerald Knaus, Chairman, European Stability Initiative
    • Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director General, DG NEAR, European Commission
    • Moderator: Tom Nuttall, Charlemagne Columnist, The Economist
  • Breakout session 7: Can a European diplomatic offensive unite Libyans against ISIS?
    • Nataliya Apostolova, Head, Delegation of the European Union to Libya
    • Claudio Cordone, Director of Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division, United Nations Support Mission in Libya
    • Moderator: Mattia Toaldo, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
• 11:45-12:45
  • What should Europe ask the next US President?
    • Bill Galston, Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution
    • Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities, Bard College
    • Réka Szemerkényi, Ambassador of Hungary to the United States
    • Moderator: Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director, ECFR 
• 12:45-13:00
  • Closing remarks
    • Carl Bildt, co-chair of ECFR Board
    • Emma Bonino, co-chair of ECFR Board
    • Dick Oosting, departing CEO, ECFR
• 15:00-17:00
  • Public Discussion: ‘The State of our Union: Europe in 2016’
    • Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden
    • Beatrice de Graaf, Professor for the History of International Relations & Global Governance, University of Utrecht
    • Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former NATO Secretary General
    • Mark Leonard, Founder & Director, ECFR
    • Moderated by Caroline de Gruyter, European Affairs Correspondent, NRC Handelsblad

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